Poland
Latest Average Wage
+16.4% · 5 years
$49,074
Country Comparison
Poland vs Japan
Compare average wages, long-term wage changes and eight consumer price categories using OECD data.
At a Glance
Poland
vs
Japan
$49,0742025
Latest Average Wage
Japan +2.3%
(vs Poland)
$50,1832025
+16.4%2025
5-Year Wage Change
Poland +18.5 pts
(vs Japan)
−2.2%2025
+42.0%2025
10-Year Wage Change
Poland +43.7 pts
(vs Japan)
−1.6%2025
45.72024
Overall Price Level
Japan +13.5 index points
(vs Poland)
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
Poland
10 Years Ago
$34,551 (2015)
Historical Peak
$49,074 (2025)
Latest Wage
$49,074 (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
Poland (POL)Japan (JPN)
Overall
−13.5 index points
100
45.7vs59.2
Food
−37.5 index points
100
74.5vs112
Clothing
+20.2 index points
100
91.2vs71
Housing
−20.8 index points
100
27.7vs48.5
Health
−4.6 index points
100
29.3vs33.9
Transport
−2.5 index points
100
81.9vs84.4
Recreation
−20.3 index points
100
58.1vs78.4
Restaurants & Accommodation
+4.6 index points
100
77.2vs72.6
What Stands Out
01
Latest Wage Gap
Japan's latest average wage is $50,183 for 2025, about 2.3% higher than Poland's $49,074 for 2025 — computed straight from the two reported values. Per year, that works out to roughly $1,109 on the shared purchasing-power basis.
02
Stronger Recent Trend
On the latest one-year change, Poland shows the stronger movement at +4.6%, against −0.5% for Japan. The five-year horizon keeps the same ordering: +16.4% 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: 74.5 for Poland against 112 for Japan. Japan sits on the higher side of that 37.5-point spread; Poland reads 37.5 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 Transport: Poland reads 81.9 and Japan 84.4 for 2024, just 2.5 index points apart on the US=100 scale. The next closest is Health at 4.6 index points apart. Closeness here describes the index readings only, not the baskets behind them.
Understanding the Comparison
Wage Position
Poland and Japan report nearly the same PPP-adjusted average annual wage: $50,183 for 2025, against $49,074 for 2025. The difference is 2.3% in relative terms — a percentage calculated from the two reported values — or roughly $1,109 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 Poland recorded +42.0% against Japan's −1.6%, 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. Poland sits at the highest point of its series — $49,074 in 2025 is also the historical peak, with a ten-year change of +42.0%. 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 Poland, the lower of the two latest wage levels (+16.4% 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
Poland's overall consumer price level for 2024 reads 45.7, and Japan's reads 59.2, each measured against the United States reference of 100. One side of this pairing dominates the price profile: Japan sits higher in 6 of the 8 comparable categories. Food separates the two most: Poland reads 74.5 and Japan 112, 37.5 index points apart. The two sit closest in Transport (81.9 versus 84.4), only 2.5 index points apart. Counted against the US reference of 100, 0 of Poland'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.
