Belgium
Latest Average Wage
+6.0% · 5 years
$80,009
Country Comparison
Belgium vs Japan
Compare average wages, long-term wage changes and eight consumer price categories using OECD data.
At a Glance
Belgium
vs
Japan
$80,0092025
Latest Average Wage
Belgium +59.4%
(vs Japan)
$50,1832025
+6.0%2025
5-Year Wage Change
Belgium +8.2 pts
(vs Japan)
−2.2%2025
+4.3%2025
10-Year Wage Change
Belgium +5.9 pts
(vs Japan)
−1.6%2025
77.52024
Overall Price Level
Belgium +18.3 index points
(vs Japan)
59.22024
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
Japan
Latest Average Wage
−2.2% · 5 years
$50,183
Wage Milestones
Belgium
10 Years Ago
$76,731 (2015)
Historical Peak
$80,009 (2025)
Latest Wage
$80,009 (2025)
Japan
10 Years Ago
$51,027 (2015)
Historical Peak
$52,662 (1997)
Latest Wage
$50,183 (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)Japan (JPN)
Overall
+18.3 index points
100
77.5vs59.2
Food
−22.1 index points
100
89.9vs112
Clothing
+17.2 index points
100
88.2vs71
Housing
+25.7 index points
100
74.2vs48.5
Health
+18.9 index points
100
52.8vs33.9
Transport
+29.6 index points
100
114vs84.4
Recreation
+7.3 index points
100
85.7vs78.4
Restaurants & Accommodation
+28.4 index points
100
101vs72.6
What Stands Out
01
Latest Wage Gap
Belgium's latest average wage is $80,009 for 2025, about 59.4% higher than Japan's $50,183 for 2025 — a percentage worked out directly from the two reported figures. That is roughly $29,826 a year on the same PPP basis.
02
Stronger Recent Trend
On the latest one-year change, Belgium shows the stronger movement at +1.8%, against −0.5% for Japan. The five-year horizon keeps the same ordering: +6.0% against −2.2%. Both percentages are real, PPP-adjusted changes from the reported wage series.
03
Largest Price Gap
Transport shows the widest price gap of the comparable categories in 2024: 114 for Belgium against 84.4 for Japan. That is a separation of 29.6 index points on the US=100 scale, with Belgium on the higher side and Japan on the lower one. The gap is stated in index points, which are not interchangeable with percentages.
04
Closest Price Category
The closest category is Recreation: Belgium reads 85.7 and Japan 78.4 for 2024, just 7.3 index points apart on the US=100 scale. The next closest is Clothing at 17.2 index points apart. A gap this small leaves the category effectively tied on the shared US=100 scale.
Understanding the Comparison
Wage Position
The wage levels in this pairing are far apart: Belgium reports $80,009 for 2025, while Japan reports $50,183 for 2025. The higher figure exceeds the lower one by 59.4% in relative terms — a percentage calculated from the two reported values — or roughly $29,826 a year. Both figures are expressed in USD PPP at constant 2025 prices, so they can be set side by side without any further conversion. For scale, neither series has moved by that much within any single reported year, so the gap is structural rather than the product of one unusual observation. Over ten years Belgium recorded +4.3% against Japan's −1.6%, so the current levels were reached on visibly different long-term paths.
Wage Direction
The two wage series are currently moving in opposite directions, and the separation between them is growing. 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%. Japan continues to drift below its peak, with a one-year change of −0.5% and a five-year change of −2.2%. Belgium is the side gaining in real terms (+6.0% over five years), while Japan records −2.2%, so the five-year measures point away from each other instead of converging. 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 Japan's reads 59.2, each measured against the United States reference of 100. One side of this pairing dominates the price profile: Belgium sits higher in 7 of the 8 comparable categories. Transport separates the two most: Belgium reads 114 and Japan 84.4, 29.6 index points apart. The two sit closest in Recreation (85.7 versus 78.4), only 7.3 index points apart. Counted against the US reference of 100, 2 of Belgium's 8 reported categories sit above the line, against 1 of Japan's 8. These are index values for 2024, not currency amounts; categories without a reported value on either side are left out of the comparison.
Wage and price data should not be combined into a verdict on which country is better to live in.
