Belgium
Latest Average Wage
+6.0% · 5 years
$80,009
Country Comparison
Belgium vs Germany
Compare average wages, long-term wage changes and eight consumer price categories using OECD data.
At a Glance
Belgium
vs
Germany
$80,0092025
Latest Average Wage
Belgium +4.9%
(vs Germany)
$76,2852025
+6.0%2025
5-Year Wage Change
Belgium +4.0 pts
(vs Germany)
+2.0%2025
+4.3%2025
10-Year Wage Change
Germany +2.8 pts
(vs Belgium)
+7.1%2025
77.52024
Overall Price Level
Belgium +6.0 index points
(vs Germany)
71.52024
Wages are PPP-adjusted average annual wages; price levels use the United States reference of 100. Years shown are each country's latest reported observation.
How Wages Have Changed
Follow PPP-adjusted average annual wages in constant prices across both economies.
USD PPP, constant prices · missing years shown as gaps, never interpolated
Germany
Latest Average Wage
+2.0% · 5 years
$76,285
Wage Milestones
Belgium
10 Years Ago
$76,731 (2015)
Historical Peak
$80,009 (2025)
Latest Wage
$80,009 (2025)
Germany
10 Years Ago
$71,244 (2015)
Historical Peak
$76,285 (2025)
Latest Wage
$76,285 (2025)
Compare Everyday Price Levels
See how eight consumer price categories compare with the United States reference value of 100.
United States = 100 · Differences shown in index points
Belgium (BEL)Germany (DEU)
Overall
+6.0 index points
100
77.5vs71.5
Food
+1.2 index points
100
89.9vs88.7
Clothing
−2.2 index points
100
88.2vs90.4
Housing
+10.1 index points
100
74.2vs64.1
Health
+2.1 index points
100
52.8vs50.7
Transport
0.0 index points
100
114vs114
Recreation
−0.9 index points
100
85.7vs86.6
Restaurants & Accommodation
+9.9 index points
100
101vs91.1
What Stands Out
01
Latest Wage Gap
Belgium's latest average wage is $80,009 for 2025, about 4.9% higher than Germany's $76,285 for 2025 — a relative difference calculated from the two reported values. Per year, that works out to roughly $3,724 on the shared purchasing-power basis.
02
Stronger Recent Trend
On the latest one-year change, Germany shows the stronger movement at +1.9%, against +1.8% for Belgium. The five-year horizon reverses the ordering — Belgium at +6.0% and Germany at +2.0% — so the latest year is not the whole story. Both percentages are real, PPP-adjusted changes from the reported wage series.
03
Largest Price Gap
Housing shows the widest price gap of the comparable categories in 2024: 74.2 for Belgium against 64.1 for Germany. Measured on the US=100 scale, the two readings for this category are 10.1 index points apart, Belgium above Germany. The gap is stated in index points, which are not interchangeable with percentages.
04
Closest Price Category
The closest category is Transport: Belgium reads 114 and Germany 114 for 2024 — effectively the same relative price level on the US=100 scale. The next closest is Recreation at 0.9 index points apart. A gap this small leaves the category effectively tied on the shared US=100 scale.
Understanding the Comparison
Wage Position
Belgium's latest PPP-adjusted average wage is $80,009 for 2025, moderately higher than Germany's $76,285 for 2025. In relative terms the gap is 4.9% — calculated from the two reported values — equivalent to about $3,724 a year on the same purchasing-power basis. No extra conversion is needed here: each figure is already a purchasing-power-adjusted annual amount in constant prices. Over ten years Belgium recorded +4.3% and Germany +7.1%, so the two series have been moving in the same long-term direction. The wage milestones above show how each side arrived at its current level, year by year.
Wage Direction
Both wage series rise over the five-year horizon, though not at the same pace. Belgium sits at the highest point of its series — $80,009 in 2025 is also the historical peak, with a ten-year change of +4.3%. Germany sits at the highest point of its series — $76,285 in 2025 is also the historical peak, with a ten-year change of +7.1%. Belgium's five-year change of +6.0% outpaces Germany's +2.0% in magnitude, so the common direction does not mean the two levels are holding a fixed distance. Each percentage is a real, PPP-adjusted change; nominal pay movements are outside what this dataset reports.
Price Profile
Belgium's overall consumer price level for 2024 reads 77.5, and Germany's reads 71.5, each measured against the United States reference of 100. Neither country is uniformly higher: Belgium leads in 5 of the 8 comparable categories and Germany in 2, so the profile splits by category rather than by country. Housing separates the two most: Belgium reads 74.2 and Germany 64.1, 10.1 index points apart. The two sit closest in Transport (114 versus 114), only 0.0 index points apart. Counted against the US reference of 100, 2 of Belgium's 8 reported categories sit above the line, against 1 of Germany's 8.
Wage and price data should not be combined into a verdict on which country is better to live in.
