Japan
Latest Average Wage
−2.2% · 5 years
$50,183
Country Comparison
Japan vs United Kingdom
Compare average wages, long-term wage changes and eight consumer price categories using OECD data.
At a Glance
Japan
vs
United Kingdom
$50,1832025
Latest Average Wage
United Kingdom +32.1%
(vs Japan)
$66,2992025
−2.2%2025
5-Year Wage Change
United Kingdom +3.3 pts
(vs Japan)
+1.2%2025
−1.6%2025
10-Year Wage Change
United Kingdom +4.9 pts
(vs Japan)
+3.3%2025
59.22024
Overall Price Level
United Kingdom +25.1 index points
(vs Japan)
84.32024
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
United Kingdom
Latest Average Wage
+1.2% · 5 years
$66,299
Wage Milestones
Japan
10 Years Ago
$51,027 (2015)
Historical Peak
$52,662 (1997)
Latest Wage
$50,183 (2025)
United Kingdom
10 Years Ago
$64,199 (2015)
Historical Peak
$66,480 (2019)
Latest Wage
$66,299 (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
Japan (JPN)United Kingdom (GBR)
Overall
−25.1 index points
100
59.2vs84.3
Food
+26.9 index points
100
112vs85.1
Clothing
−7.9 index points
100
71vs78.9
Housing
−46.9 index points
100
48.5vs95.4
Health
−38.2 index points
100
33.9vs72.1
Transport
−26.6 index points
100
84.4vs111
Recreation
−11.8 index points
100
78.4vs90.2
Restaurants & Accommodation
−14.6 index points
100
72.6vs87.2
What Stands Out
01
Latest Wage Gap
United Kingdom's latest average wage is $66,299 for 2025, about 32.1% higher than Japan's $50,183 for 2025 — computed straight from the two reported values. Per year, that works out to roughly $16,116 on the shared purchasing-power basis.
02
Stronger Recent Trend
On the latest one-year change, United Kingdom shows the stronger movement at +0.7%, against −0.5% for Japan. The five-year horizon keeps the same ordering: +1.2% against −2.2%. 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: 48.5 for Japan against 95.4 for United Kingdom. United Kingdom sits on the higher side of that 46.9-point spread; Japan reads 46.9 index points lower on the US=100 scale. The gap is stated in index points, which are not interchangeable with percentages.
04
Closest Price Category
The closest category is Clothing: Japan reads 71 and United Kingdom 78.9 for 2024, just 7.9 index points apart on the US=100 scale. The next closest is Recreation at 11.8 index points apart. Closeness here describes the index readings only, not the baskets behind them.
Understanding the Comparison
Wage Position
United Kingdom holds a clear wage lead in this pairing: $66,299 for 2025, against Japan's $50,183 for 2025. The higher figure exceeds the lower one by 32.1% in relative terms — a percentage calculated from the two reported values — or roughly $16,116 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 Japan recorded −1.6% against United Kingdom's +3.3%, 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. Japan continues to drift below its peak, with a one-year change of −0.5% and a five-year change of −2.2%. United Kingdom stands just below its historical high of $66,480 in 2019, only 0.3% away, with a ten-year change of +3.3%. United Kingdom is the side gaining in real terms (+1.2% 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
Japan's overall consumer price level for 2024 reads 59.2, and United Kingdom's reads 84.3, each measured against the United States reference of 100. One side of this pairing dominates the price profile: United Kingdom sits higher in 7 of the 8 comparable categories. Housing separates the two most: Japan reads 48.5 and United Kingdom 95.4, 46.9 index points apart. The two sit closest in Clothing (71 versus 78.9), only 7.9 index points apart. Counted against the US reference of 100, 1 of Japan's 8 reported categories sit above the line, against 1 of United Kingdom'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.
