Norway
Latest Average Wage
+6.0% · 5 years
$73,462
Country Comparison
Norway vs Japan
Compare average wages, long-term wage changes and eight consumer price categories using OECD data.
At a Glance
Norway
vs
Japan
$73,4622025
Latest Average Wage
Norway +46.4%
(vs Japan)
$50,1832025
+6.0%2025
5-Year Wage Change
Norway +8.1 pts
(vs Japan)
−2.2%2025
+9.4%2025
10-Year Wage Change
Norway +11.1 pts
(vs Japan)
−1.6%2025
902024
Overall Price Level
Norway +30.8 index points
(vs Japan)
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
Norway
10 Years Ago
$67,127 (2015)
Historical Peak
$73,462 (2025)
Latest Wage
$73,462 (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
Norway (NOR)Japan (JPN)
Overall
+30.8 index points
100
90vs59.2
Food
+1.0 index points
100
113vs112
Clothing
+34.0 index points
100
105vs71
Housing
+11.9 index points
100
60.4vs48.5
Health
+46.7 index points
100
80.6vs33.9
Transport
+41.6 index points
100
126vs84.4
Recreation
+40.6 index points
100
119vs78.4
Restaurants & Accommodation
+41.4 index points
100
114vs72.6
What Stands Out
01
Latest Wage Gap
Norway's latest average wage is $73,462 for 2025, about 46.4% higher than Japan's $50,183 for 2025 — computed straight from the two reported values. In annual terms the gap comes to about $23,279 on the same PPP basis.
02
Stronger Recent Trend
On the latest one-year change, Norway shows the stronger movement at +1.6%, against −0.5% for Japan. The five-year horizon keeps the same ordering: +6.0% against −2.2%. 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: 80.6 for Norway against 33.9 for Japan. Norway sits on the higher side of that 46.7-point spread; Japan reads 46.7 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 Food: Norway reads 113 and Japan 112 for 2024, just 1.0 index points apart on the US=100 scale. The next closest is Housing at 11.9 index points apart. Closeness here describes the index readings only, not the baskets behind them.
Understanding the Comparison
Wage Position
The wage levels in this pairing are far apart: Norway reports $73,462 for 2025, while Japan reports $50,183 for 2025. The higher figure exceeds the lower one by 46.4% in relative terms — a percentage calculated from the two reported values — or roughly $23,279 a year. Because both values already sit on the same USD PPP, constant-2025-price footing, the comparison adjusts for price-level differences between the two economies. 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 Norway recorded +9.4% against Japan's −1.6%, 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. Norway sits at the highest point of its series — $73,462 in 2025 is also the historical peak, with a ten-year change of +9.4%. Japan continues to drift below its peak, with a one-year change of −0.5% and a five-year change of −2.2%. Norway is the side gaining in real terms (+6.0% 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
Norway's overall consumer price level for 2024 reads 90, and Japan's reads 59.2, each measured against the United States reference of 100. One side of this pairing dominates the price profile: Norway sits higher in 8 of the 8 comparable categories. Health separates the two most: Norway reads 80.6 and Japan 33.9, 46.7 index points apart. The two sit closest in Food (113 versus 112), only 1.0 index points apart. Counted against the US reference of 100, 5 of Norway's 8 reported categories sit above the line, against 1 of Japan'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.
