What Do Indonesia’s Deciles 1–10 Mean? From Welfare Aid to Fuel Subsidies

Indonesia’s welfare “decile” system is becoming increasingly important.

Originally associated mainly with social-assistance targeting, decile rankings are now at the centre of a debate over whether higher-income households should continue receiving subsidised Pertalite fuel.

The Indonesian government is considering restricting subsidised Pertalite purchases for households in deciles 9 and 10.

But what exactly does that classification mean?

Indonesia Divides Families Into Ten Welfare Groups

Indonesia’s Ministry of Social Affairs uses the National Socioeconomic Single Data system, known as DTSEN, to rank household welfare.

Families are divided into ten groups, with each decile representing roughly 10% of Indonesian families.

Decile 1 represents the lowest-welfare 10%, while Decile 10 represents the highest-welfare 10%.

The system is a ranking rather than a fixed income bracket.

Deciles Are Not Based on Salary Alone

A common misunderstanding is that a person’s monthly salary automatically determines their decile.

It does not.

Indonesia’s official Social Assistance Check platform says the ranking uses socioeconomic variables including employment, education, housing conditions, electricity usage and asset ownership.

This means two families earning similar monthly incomes may still receive different welfare rankings depending on their overall circumstances.

The national database is also continuously updated. In its 2026 Volume 2 update, Statistics Indonesia said DTSEN covered approximately 95.3 million families and 289.3 million individuals.

How the Ten Deciles Work

The basic structure is:

• Decile 1: lowest 10%
• Decile 2: 11th–20th percentile
• Decile 3: 21st–30th percentile
• Decile 4: 31st–40th percentile
• Decile 5: 41st–50th percentile
• Decile 6: 51st–60th percentile
• Decile 7: 61st–70th percentile
• Decile 8: 71st–80th percentile
• Decile 9: 81st–90th percentile
• Decile 10: highest 10%

Government programmes can then use those rankings to prioritise different forms of assistance.

Which Deciles Qualify for Social Assistance?

The Social Affairs Ministry says households in deciles 1–4 may be proposed for programmes such as PKH and the staple-food assistance programme.

Households in decile 5 may be proposed for government-paid health insurance contributions under PBI-JK.

These classifications do not create an automatic entitlement in every case. Programme-specific eligibility rules still apply.

But the ranking has become one of the government’s main targeting tools.

Why Are Deciles 9 and 10 Being Discussed for Pertalite?

On August 11, Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa said the government was studying a phased restriction of subsidised Pertalite for higher-welfare households, particularly deciles 9 and 10.

Energy Minister Bahlil Lahadalia argued that higher-welfare households should not consume a subsidy intended for people who need more government support.

The policy logic is straightforward: removing the highest-ranked households from the subsidy could concentrate government spending on lower-welfare groups.

Has the Restriction Already Taken Effect?

No.

As of August 22, 2026, the proposed restriction is still being studied.

Bahlil said on August 19 that Pertalite distribution would continue under existing rules until the government reaches a final decision.

That distinction is important.

The accurate wording is that Indonesia is considering restricting Pertalite purchases for deciles 9 and 10—not that those households have already been banned.

Does Decile 10 Mean “Rich”?

Not necessarily in the conventional sense.

Decile 10 means the household belongs to the top 10% of the DTSEN welfare ranking.

It does not automatically mean every household in that group is a millionaire or extremely wealthy.

The ranking is relative and multidimensional.

Government officials may casually refer to deciles 9–10 as higher-income or “rich” households, but the technical meaning is simply that they sit near the top of Indonesia’s household welfare distribution.

There Is No Single Nationwide Salary Cutoff

It is misleading to create a simple table saying, for example, “IDR10 million per month equals Decile 9.”

Government explanations indicate that income thresholds and conditions can vary by region.

Statistics Indonesia Chief Amalia Adininggar Widyasanti previously gave examples of lower-decile income levels in a specific context, while stressing that criteria for subsequent deciles differ by province.

The safest way to understand deciles is therefore as relative welfare rankings, not fixed national salary bands.

Decile Status Can Change

A household’s classification is not permanent.

The Ministry of Social Affairs says decile rankings are dynamic and can be updated when a family’s actual socioeconomic situation changes.

Citizens can request updates through local government or the Social Assistance Check application, after which Statistics Indonesia periodically recalculates the ranking.

This matters increasingly as more government programmes rely on the same database.

Bottom Line

Indonesia’s decile system ranks households from the lowest-welfare 10% in Decile 1 to the highest-welfare 10% in Decile 10.

The classification uses multiple socioeconomic indicators rather than monthly income alone.

It already helps determine eligibility priorities for social programmes, and the government is now studying whether it can also be used to target fuel subsidies more accurately.

But the Pertalite restriction remains a proposal as of August 22, 2026.

The larger takeaway is that Indonesia’s decile ranking is becoming increasingly important because it may affect not only social assistance, but also who continues to receive subsidised goods and services.