South Korea
Latest Average Wage
+3.1% · 5 years
$61,259
Country Comparison
South Korea vs Sweden
Compare average wages, long-term wage changes and eight consumer price categories using OECD data.
At a Glance
South Korea
vs
Sweden
$61,2592025
Latest Average Wage
Sweden +0.3%
(vs South Korea)
$61,4432025
+3.1%2025
5-Year Wage Change
South Korea +4.8 pts
(vs Sweden)
−1.7%2025
+18.3%2025
10-Year Wage Change
South Korea +15.1 pts
(vs Sweden)
+3.2%2025
60.12024
Overall Price Level
Sweden +21.4 index points
(vs South Korea)
81.52024
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
Sweden
Latest Average Wage
−1.7% · 5 years
$61,443
Wage Milestones
South Korea
10 Years Ago
$51,769 (2015)
Historical Peak
$61,259 (2025)
Latest Wage
$61,259 (2025)
Sweden
10 Years Ago
$59,542 (2015)
Historical Peak
$63,923 (2021)
Latest Wage
$61,443 (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
South Korea (KOR)Sweden (SWE)
Overall
−21.4 index points
100
60.1vs81.5
Food
+45.2 index points
100
136vs90.8
Clothing
−6.0 index points
100
103vs109
Housing
−26.2 index points
100
38vs64.2
Health
−34.4 index points
100
37vs71.4
Transport
−43.2 index points
100
73.8vs117
Recreation
−26.8 index points
100
71.6vs98.4
Restaurants & Accommodation
−14.6 index points
100
82.4vs97
What Stands Out
01
Latest Wage Gap
South Korea's latest average wage is $61,259 for 2025, effectively level with Sweden's $61,443 for 2025 — the relative difference, calculated from the two reported values, rounds to under half a percent. Per year, that works out to roughly $184 on the shared purchasing-power basis.
02
Stronger Recent Trend
On the latest one-year change, Sweden shows the stronger movement at +0.9%, against +0.6% for South Korea. The five-year horizon reverses the ordering — South Korea at +3.1% and Sweden at −1.7% — 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
Food shows the widest price gap of the comparable categories in 2024: 136 for South Korea against 90.8 for Sweden. Measured on the US=100 scale, the two readings for this category are 45.2 index points apart, South Korea above Sweden. The gap is stated in index points, which are not interchangeable with percentages.
04
Closest Price Category
The closest category is Clothing: South Korea reads 103 and Sweden 109 for 2024, just 6.0 index points apart on the US=100 scale. The next closest is Restaurants & Accommodation at 14.6 index points apart. Closeness here describes the index readings only, not the baskets behind them.
Understanding the Comparison
Wage Position
South Korea and Sweden report nearly the same PPP-adjusted average annual wage: $61,443 for 2025, against $61,259 for 2025. The difference is 0.3% in relative terms — a percentage calculated from the two reported values — or roughly $184 a year, which is small next to either figure. No extra conversion is needed here: each figure is already a purchasing-power-adjusted annual amount in constant prices. Over ten years South Korea recorded +18.3% and Sweden +3.2%, so the two series have been moving in the same long-term direction. For most side-by-side readings the two wage levels can be treated as equivalent within this dataset.
Wage Direction
Opposite directions define this pairing, and they pull the two wage levels closer together. South Korea sits at the highest point of its series — $61,259 in 2025 is also the historical peak, with a ten-year change of +18.3%. Sweden is partway through a recovery: the latest year added +0.9%, though the level remains 3.9% below its peak. The side gaining in real terms is South Korea, the lower of the two latest wage levels (+3.1% over five years against −1.7%), so on these measures the two are closing in rather than drifting apart. Each percentage is a real, PPP-adjusted change; nominal pay movements are outside what this dataset reports.
Price Profile
South Korea's overall consumer price level for 2024 reads 60.1, and Sweden's reads 81.5, each measured against the United States reference of 100. One side of this pairing dominates the price profile: Sweden sits higher in 7 of the 8 comparable categories. Food separates the two most: South Korea reads 136 and Sweden 90.8, 45.2 index points apart. The two sit closest in Clothing (103 versus 109), only 6.0 index points apart. Counted against the US reference of 100, 2 of South Korea's 8 reported categories sit above the line, against 2 of Sweden'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.
