Netherlands
Latest Average Wage
−2.0% · 5 years
$80,136
Country Comparison
Netherlands vs Belgium
Compare average wages, long-term wage changes and eight consumer price categories using OECD data.
At a Glance
Netherlands
vs
Belgium
$80,1362025
Latest Average Wage
Netherlands +0.2%
(vs Belgium)
$80,0092025
−2.0%2025
5-Year Wage Change
Belgium +8.0 pts
(vs Netherlands)
+6.0%2025
−3.1%2025
10-Year Wage Change
Belgium +7.4 pts
(vs Netherlands)
+4.3%2025
78.42024
Overall Price Level
Netherlands +0.9 index points
(vs Belgium)
77.52024
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
Belgium
Latest Average Wage
+6.0% · 5 years
$80,009
Wage Milestones
Netherlands
10 Years Ago
$82,711 (2015)
Historical Peak
$83,103 (2016)
Latest Wage
$80,136 (2025)
Belgium
10 Years Ago
$76,731 (2015)
Historical Peak
$80,009 (2025)
Latest Wage
$80,009 (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
Netherlands (NLD)Belgium (BEL)
Overall
+0.9 index points
100
78.4vs77.5
Food
−5.5 index points
100
84.4vs89.9
Clothing
−5.5 index points
100
82.7vs88.2
Housing
−1.1 index points
100
73.1vs74.2
Health
+8.0 index points
100
60.8vs52.8
Transport
+5.0 index points
100
119vs114
Recreation
+4.3 index points
100
90vs85.7
Restaurants & Accommodation
−1.8 index points
100
99.2vs101
What Stands Out
01
Latest Wage Gap
Netherlands' latest average wage is $80,136 for 2025, effectively level with Belgium's $80,009 for 2025 — the relative difference, calculated from the two reported values, rounds to under half a percent. Per year, that works out to roughly $128 on the shared purchasing-power basis.
02
Stronger Recent Trend
On the latest one-year change, Netherlands shows the stronger movement at +1.9%, against +1.8% for Belgium. The five-year horizon reverses the ordering — Netherlands at −2.0% and Belgium at +6.0% — 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: 60.8 for Netherlands against 52.8 for Belgium. That is a separation of 8.0 index points on the US=100 scale, with Netherlands on the higher side and Belgium on the lower one. The gap is stated in index points, which are not interchangeable with percentages.
04
Closest Price Category
The closest category is Overall: Netherlands reads 78.4 and Belgium 77.5 for 2024, just 0.9 index points apart on the US=100 scale. The next closest is Housing at 1.1 index points apart. Two readings this close mean the category sits at nearly the same point of the US=100 scale for both.
Understanding the Comparison
Wage Position
Netherlands and Belgium report nearly the same PPP-adjusted average annual wage: $80,136 for 2025, against $80,009 for 2025. The difference is 0.2% in relative terms — a percentage calculated from the two reported values — or roughly $128 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 Netherlands recorded −3.1% against Belgium's +4.3%, so the current levels were reached on visibly different long-term paths. 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. Netherlands is partway through a recovery: the latest year added +1.9%, though the level remains 3.6% below its peak. Belgium sits at the highest point of its series — $80,009 in 2025 is also the historical peak, with a ten-year change of +4.3%. The side gaining in real terms is Belgium, the lower of the two latest wage levels (+6.0% over five years against −2.0%), 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
Netherlands' overall consumer price level for 2024 reads 78.4, and Belgium's reads 77.5, each measured against the United States reference of 100. Neither country is uniformly higher: Netherlands leads in 4 of the 8 comparable categories and Belgium in 4, so the profile splits by category rather than by country. Health separates the two most: Netherlands reads 60.8 and Belgium 52.8, 8.0 index points apart. The two sit closest in Overall (78.4 versus 77.5), only 0.9 index points apart. Counted against the US reference of 100, 1 of Netherlands' 8 reported categories sit above the line, against 2 of Belgium's 8.
Wage and price data should not be combined into a verdict on which country is better to live in.
