Estonia
Latest Average Wage
+1.6% · 5 years
$41,019
Country Comparison
Estonia vs Italy
Compare average wages, long-term wage changes and eight consumer price categories using OECD data.
At a Glance
Estonia
vs
Italy
$41,0192025
Latest Average Wage
Italy +31.3%
(vs Estonia)
$53,8642025
+1.6%2025
5-Year Wage Change
Italy +0.3 pts
(vs Estonia)
+1.8%2025
+27.6%2025
10-Year Wage Change
Estonia +31.4 pts
(vs Italy)
−3.9%2025
63.62024
Overall Price Level
Italy +0.5 index points
(vs Estonia)
64.12024
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
Italy
Latest Average Wage
+1.8% · 5 years
$53,864
Wage Milestones
Estonia
10 Years Ago
$32,160 (2015)
Historical Peak
$42,741 (2021)
Latest Wage
$41,019 (2025)
Italy
10 Years Ago
$56,043 (2015)
Historical Peak
$57,790 (2010)
Latest Wage
$53,864 (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
Estonia (EST)Italy (ITA)
Overall
−0.5 index points
100
63.6vs64.1
Food
+4.5 index points
100
91.2vs86.7
Clothing
+9.7 index points
100
105vs95.3
Housing
+4.1 index points
100
54.9vs50.8
Health
−11.4 index points
100
41.4vs52.8
Transport
−1.4 index points
100
98.5vs99.9
Recreation
+9.4 index points
100
83.8vs74.4
Restaurants & Accommodation
−8.7 index points
100
80.7vs89.4
What Stands Out
01
Latest Wage Gap
Italy's latest average wage is $53,864 for 2025, about 31.3% higher than Estonia's $41,019 for 2025 — a relative difference calculated from the two reported values. In annual terms the gap comes to about $12,845 on the same PPP basis.
02
Stronger Recent Trend
On the latest one-year change, Estonia shows the stronger movement at +1.4%, against +1.2% for Italy. The five-year horizon reverses the ordering — Estonia at +1.6% and Italy at +1.8% — 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
Health shows the widest price gap of the comparable categories in 2024: 41.4 for Estonia against 52.8 for Italy. Measured on the US=100 scale, the two readings for this category are 11.4 index points apart, Italy above Estonia. Index points are not percentages; the two scales answer different questions.
04
Closest Price Category
The closest category is Overall: Estonia reads 63.6 and Italy 64.1 for 2024 — effectively the same relative price level on the US=100 scale. The next closest is Transport at 1.4 index points apart. Closeness here describes the index readings only, not the baskets behind them.
Understanding the Comparison
Wage Position
A clear separation shows in the latest wage figures — Italy at $53,864 for 2025, and Estonia at $41,019 for 2025. The higher figure exceeds the lower one by 31.3% in relative terms — a percentage calculated from the two reported values — or roughly $12,845 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 Estonia recorded +27.6% against Italy's −3.9%, so the current levels were reached on visibly different long-term paths.
Wage Direction
The five-year direction is shared here: both series rise, with different momentum on each side. Estonia is partway through a recovery: the latest year added +1.4%, though the level remains 4.0% below its peak. Italy is partway through a recovery: the latest year added +1.2%, though the level remains 6.8% below its peak. The shared direction still leaves room for different speeds: +1.8% for Italy against +1.6% for Estonia, so the distance between the two levels keeps shifting. All changes here are measured in real, PPP-adjusted terms, so they describe purchasing-power movement rather than nominal pay increases.
Price Profile
Estonia's overall consumer price level for 2024 reads 63.6, and Italy's reads 64.1, each measured against the United States reference of 100. Neither country is uniformly higher: Estonia leads in 4 of the 8 comparable categories and Italy in 3, so the profile splits by category rather than by country. The widest separation is in Health: 41.4 for Estonia against 52.8 for Italy, a gap of 11.4 index points. At the other end, Overall brings the two closest — 63.6 versus 64.1, a gap of just 0.5 index points. Relative to the US benchmark, Estonia reads above 100 in 1 of its 8 reported categories, and Italy in 0 of its 8.
Wage and price data should not be combined into a verdict on which country is better to live in.
