Sweden
Latest Average Wage
−1.7% · 5 years
$61,443
Country Comparison
Sweden vs Canada
Compare average wages, long-term wage changes and eight consumer price categories using OECD data.
At a Glance
Sweden
vs
Canada
$61,4432025
Latest Average Wage
Canada +10.5%
(vs Sweden)
$67,9012025
−1.7%2025
5-Year Wage Change
Canada +1.4 pts
(vs Sweden)
−0.3%2025
+3.2%2025
10-Year Wage Change
Canada +1.8 pts
(vs Sweden)
+5.0%2025
81.52024
Overall Price Level
Canada +4.5 index points
(vs Sweden)
862024
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
Canada
Latest Average Wage
−0.3% · 5 years
$67,901
Wage Milestones
Sweden
10 Years Ago
$59,542 (2015)
Historical Peak
$63,923 (2021)
Latest Wage
$61,443 (2025)
Canada
10 Years Ago
$64,667 (2015)
Historical Peak
$68,434 (2021)
Latest Wage
$67,901 (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
Sweden (SWE)Canada (CAN)
Overall
−4.5 index points
100
81.5vs86
Food
−17.2 index points
100
90.8vs108
Clothing
−9.0 index points
100
109vs118
Housing
−18.9 index points
100
64.2vs83.1
Health
+9.2 index points
100
71.4vs62.2
Transport
+14.0 index points
100
117vs103
Recreation
+6.4 index points
100
98.4vs92
Restaurants & Accommodation
−0.6 index points
100
97vs97.6
What Stands Out
01
Latest Wage Gap
Canada's latest average wage is $67,901 for 2025, about 10.5% higher than Sweden's $61,443 for 2025 — a percentage worked out directly from the two reported figures. That is roughly $6,457 a year on the same PPP basis.
02
Stronger Recent Trend
On the latest one-year change, Sweden shows the stronger movement at +0.9%, against +0.2% for Canada. The five-year horizon reverses the ordering — Sweden at −1.7% and Canada at −0.3% — 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
Housing shows the widest price gap of the comparable categories in 2024: 64.2 for Sweden against 83.1 for Canada. That is a separation of 18.9 index points on the US=100 scale, with Canada on the higher side and Sweden 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 Restaurants & Accommodation: Sweden reads 97 and Canada 97.6 for 2024, just 0.6 index points apart on the US=100 scale. The next closest is Overall at 4.5 index points apart. A gap this small leaves the category effectively tied on the shared US=100 scale.
Understanding the Comparison
Wage Position
Canada's latest PPP-adjusted average wage is $67,901 for 2025, moderately higher than Sweden's $61,443 for 2025. In relative terms the gap is 10.5% — calculated from the two reported values — equivalent to about $6,457 a year on the same purchasing-power basis. Both figures are expressed in USD PPP at constant 2025 prices, so they can be set side by side without any further conversion. 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 Sweden recorded +3.2% and Canada +5.0%, so the two series have been moving in the same long-term direction.
Wage Direction
The two wage series do not point the same way across the reported horizons. Sweden is partway through a recovery: the latest year added +0.9%, though the level remains 3.9% below its peak. Canada stands just below its historical high of $68,434 in 2021, only 0.8% away, with a ten-year change of +5.0%. The five-year changes — −1.7% for Sweden, −0.3% for Canada — resist a single-trend summary and are clearer read side by side. Each percentage is a real, PPP-adjusted change; nominal pay movements are outside what this dataset reports.
Price Profile
Sweden's overall consumer price level for 2024 reads 81.5, and Canada's reads 86, each measured against the United States reference of 100. Neither country is uniformly higher: Sweden leads in 3 of the 8 comparable categories and Canada in 5, so the profile splits by category rather than by country. Housing separates the two most: Sweden reads 64.2 and Canada 83.1, 18.9 index points apart. The two sit closest in Restaurants & Accommodation (97 versus 97.6), only 0.6 index points apart. Counted against the US reference of 100, 2 of Sweden's 8 reported categories sit above the line, against 3 of Canada's 8.
Wage and price data should not be combined into a verdict on which country is better to live in.
