Latvia
Latest Average Wage
+12.3% · 5 years
$44,709
Country Comparison
Latvia vs Japan
Compare average wages, long-term wage changes and eight consumer price categories using OECD data.
At a Glance
Latvia
vs
Japan
$44,7092025
Latest Average Wage
Japan +12.2%
(vs Latvia)
$50,1832025
+12.3%2025
5-Year Wage Change
Latvia +14.5 pts
(vs Japan)
−2.2%2025
+38.8%2025
10-Year Wage Change
Latvia +40.5 pts
(vs Japan)
−1.6%2025
52.22024
Overall Price Level
Japan +7.0 index points
(vs Latvia)
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
Latvia
10 Years Ago
$32,207 (2015)
Historical Peak
$44,709 (2025)
Latest Wage
$44,709 (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
Latvia (LVA)Japan (JPN)
Overall
−7.0 index points
100
52.2vs59.2
Food
−21.8 index points
100
90.2vs112
Clothing
+21.5 index points
100
92.5vs71
Housing
−17.4 index points
100
31.1vs48.5
Health
−2.9 index points
100
31vs33.9
Transport
+2.0 index points
100
86.4vs84.4
Recreation
−7.5 index points
100
70.9vs78.4
Restaurants & Accommodation
+2.8 index points
100
75.4vs72.6
What Stands Out
01
Latest Wage Gap
Japan's latest average wage is $50,183 for 2025, about 12.2% higher than Latvia's $44,709 for 2025 — a relative difference calculated from the two reported values. Per year, that works out to roughly $5,474 on the shared purchasing-power basis.
02
Stronger Recent Trend
On the latest one-year change, Latvia shows the stronger movement at +3.3%, against −0.5% for Japan. The five-year horizon keeps the same ordering: +12.3% 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: 90.2 for Latvia against 112 for Japan. Measured on the US=100 scale, the two readings for this category are 21.8 index points apart, Japan above Latvia. The gap is stated in index points, which are not interchangeable with percentages.
04
Closest Price Category
The closest category is Transport: Latvia reads 86.4 and Japan 84.4 for 2024, just 2.0 index points apart on the US=100 scale. The next closest is Restaurants & Accommodation at 2.8 index points apart. A gap this small leaves the category effectively tied on the shared US=100 scale.
Understanding the Comparison
Wage Position
Japan's latest PPP-adjusted average wage is $50,183 for 2025, moderately higher than Latvia's $44,709 for 2025. In relative terms the gap is 12.2% — calculated from the two reported values — equivalent to about $5,474 a year on the same purchasing-power basis. No extra conversion is needed here: each figure is already a purchasing-power-adjusted annual amount in constant prices. Over ten years Latvia recorded +38.8% against Japan's −1.6%, so the current levels were reached on visibly different long-term paths. The wage milestones above show how each side arrived at its current level, year by year.
Wage Direction
Opposite directions define this pairing, and they pull the two wage levels closer together. Latvia sits at the highest point of its series — $44,709 in 2025 is also the historical peak, with a ten-year change of +38.8%. Japan continues to drift below its peak, with a one-year change of −0.5% and a five-year change of −2.2%. The side gaining in real terms is Latvia, the lower of the two latest wage levels (+12.3% over five years against −2.2%), 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
Latvia's overall consumer price level for 2024 reads 52.2, and Japan's reads 59.2, each measured against the United States reference of 100. Neither country is uniformly higher: Latvia leads in 3 of the 8 comparable categories and Japan in 5, so the profile splits by category rather than by country. Food separates the two most: Latvia reads 90.2 and Japan 112, 21.8 index points apart. The two sit closest in Transport (86.4 versus 84.4), only 2.0 index points apart. Counted against the US reference of 100, 0 of Latvia's 8 reported categories sit above the line, against 1 of Japan's 8.
Wage and price data should not be combined into a verdict on which country is better to live in.
