Greece
Latest Average Wage
−0.3% · 5 years
$32,412
Country Comparison
Greece vs Japan
Compare average wages, long-term wage changes and eight consumer price categories using OECD data.
At a Glance
Greece
vs
Japan
$32,4122025
Latest Average Wage
Japan +54.8%
(vs Greece)
$50,1832025
−0.3%2025
5-Year Wage Change
Greece +1.8 pts
(vs Japan)
−2.2%2025
−6.0%2025
10-Year Wage Change
Japan +4.4 pts
(vs Greece)
−1.6%2025
54.72024
Overall Price Level
Japan +4.5 index points
(vs Greece)
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
Greece
10 Years Ago
$34,495 (2015)
Historical Peak
$44,174 (2009)
Latest Wage
$32,412 (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
Greece (GRC)Japan (JPN)
Overall
−4.5 index points
100
54.7vs59.2
Food
−20.9 index points
100
91.1vs112
Clothing
+9.9 index points
100
80.9vs71
Housing
−7.8 index points
100
40.7vs48.5
Health
+4.2 index points
100
38.1vs33.9
Transport
+9.0 index points
100
93.4vs84.4
Recreation
−11.9 index points
100
66.5vs78.4
Restaurants & Accommodation
−1.3 index points
100
71.3vs72.6
What Stands Out
01
Latest Wage Gap
Japan's latest average wage is $50,183 for 2025, about 54.8% higher than Greece's $32,412 for 2025 — a percentage worked out directly from the two reported figures. Per year, that works out to roughly $17,770 on the shared purchasing-power basis.
02
Stronger Recent Trend
On the latest one-year change, Greece shows the stronger movement at −0.3%, against −0.5% for Japan. The five-year horizon keeps the same ordering: −0.3% 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: 91.1 for Greece against 112 for Japan. That is a separation of 20.9 index points on the US=100 scale, with Japan on the higher side and Greece on the lower one. Index points are not percentages; the two scales answer different questions.
04
Closest Price Category
The closest category is Restaurants & Accommodation: Greece reads 71.3 and Japan 72.6 for 2024, just 1.3 index points apart on the US=100 scale. The next closest is Health at 4.2 index points apart. A gap this small leaves the category effectively tied on the shared US=100 scale.
Understanding the Comparison
Wage Position
Few pairings separate this cleanly — Japan's latest average wage of $50,183 for 2025 stands well above Greece's $32,412 for 2025. The higher figure exceeds the lower one by 54.8% in relative terms — a percentage calculated from the two reported values — or roughly $17,770 a year. No extra conversion is needed here: each figure is already a purchasing-power-adjusted annual amount in constant prices. 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 Greece recorded −6.0% and Japan −1.6%, so the two series have been moving in the same long-term direction.
Wage Direction
Both wage series decline over the five-year horizon, though not at the same pace. Greece continues to drift below its peak, with a one-year change of −0.3% and a five-year change of −0.3%. Japan continues to drift below its peak, with a one-year change of −0.5% and a five-year change of −2.2%. The shared direction still leaves room for different speeds: −2.2% for Japan against −0.3% for Greece, 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
Greece's overall consumer price level for 2024 reads 54.7, and Japan's reads 59.2, each measured against the United States reference of 100. Neither country is uniformly higher: Greece leads in 3 of the 8 comparable categories and Japan in 5, so the profile splits by category rather than by country. The widest separation is in Food: 91.1 for Greece against 112 for Japan, a gap of 20.9 index points. At the other end, Restaurants & Accommodation brings the two closest — 71.3 versus 72.6, a gap of just 1.3 index points. Relative to the US benchmark, Greece 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.
