Spain
Latest Average Wage
+4.3% · 5 years
$57,779
Country Comparison
Spain vs Japan
Compare average wages, long-term wage changes and eight consumer price categories using OECD data.
At a Glance
Spain
vs
Japan
$57,7792025
Latest Average Wage
Spain +15.1%
(vs Japan)
$50,1832025
+4.3%2025
5-Year Wage Change
Spain +6.5 pts
(vs Japan)
−2.2%2025
+2.6%2025
10-Year Wage Change
Spain +4.2 pts
(vs Japan)
−1.6%2025
59.42024
Overall Price Level
Spain +0.2 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
Spain
10 Years Ago
$56,334 (2015)
Historical Peak
$58,456 (2009)
Latest Wage
$57,779 (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
Spain (ESP)Japan (JPN)
Overall
+0.2 index points
100
59.4vs59.2
Food
−30.0 index points
100
82vs112
Clothing
+9.6 index points
100
80.6vs71
Housing
+6.0 index points
100
54.5vs48.5
Health
+8.8 index points
100
42.7vs33.9
Transport
+7.7 index points
100
92.1vs84.4
Recreation
−4.8 index points
100
73.6vs78.4
Restaurants & Accommodation
−3.4 index points
100
69.2vs72.6
What Stands Out
01
Latest Wage Gap
Spain's latest average wage is $57,779 for 2025, about 15.1% higher than Japan's $50,183 for 2025 — computed straight from the two reported values. In annual terms the gap comes to about $7,596 on the same PPP basis.
02
Stronger Recent Trend
On the latest one-year change, Spain shows the stronger movement at +1.2%, against −0.5% for Japan. The five-year horizon keeps the same ordering: +4.3% against −2.2%. Both percentages are real, PPP-adjusted changes from the reported wage series.
03
Largest Price Gap
Food shows the widest price gap of the comparable categories in 2024: 82 for Spain against 112 for Japan. Japan sits on the higher side of that 30.0-point spread; Spain reads 30.0 index points lower on the US=100 scale. Index points are not percentages; the two scales answer different questions.
04
Closest Price Category
The closest category is Overall: Spain reads 59.4 and Japan 59.2 for 2024 — effectively the same relative price level on the US=100 scale. The next closest is Restaurants & Accommodation at 3.4 index points apart. Two readings this close mean the category sits at nearly the same point of the US=100 scale for both.
Understanding the Comparison
Wage Position
A clear separation shows in the latest wage figures — Spain at $57,779 for 2025, and Japan at $50,183 for 2025. The higher figure exceeds the lower one by 15.1% in relative terms — a percentage calculated from the two reported values — or roughly $7,596 a year. Because both values already sit on the same USD PPP, constant-2025-price footing, the comparison adjusts for price-level differences between the two economies. 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 Spain recorded +2.6% against Japan's −1.6%, so the current levels were reached on visibly different long-term paths.
Wage Direction
This pairing shows two wage paths pulling apart rather than tracking each other. Spain stands just below its historical high of $58,456 in 2009, only 1.2% away, with a ten-year change of +2.6%. Japan continues to drift below its peak, with a one-year change of −0.5% and a five-year change of −2.2%. With Spain gaining in real terms at +4.3% over five years and Japan at −2.2%, the five-year measures move away from each other rather than closing in. All changes here are measured in real, PPP-adjusted terms, so they describe purchasing-power movement rather than nominal pay increases.
Price Profile
Spain's overall consumer price level for 2024 reads 59.4, and Japan's reads 59.2, each measured against the United States reference of 100. Neither country is uniformly higher: Spain leads in 4 of the 8 comparable categories and Japan in 3, so the profile splits by category rather than by country. The widest separation is in Food: 82 for Spain against 112 for Japan, a gap of 30.0 index points. At the other end, Overall brings the two closest — 59.4 versus 59.2, a gap of just 0.2 index points. Relative to the US benchmark, Spain reads above 100 in 0 of its 8 reported categories, and Japan in 1 of its 8.
Wage and price data should not be combined into a verdict on which country is better to live in.
