Sweden
Latest Average Wage
−1.7% · 5 years
$61,443
Country Comparison
Sweden vs Japan
Compare average wages, long-term wage changes and eight consumer price categories using OECD data.
At a Glance
Sweden
vs
Japan
$61,4432025
Latest Average Wage
Sweden +22.4%
(vs Japan)
$50,1832025
−1.7%2025
5-Year Wage Change
Sweden +0.5 pts
(vs Japan)
−2.2%2025
+3.2%2025
10-Year Wage Change
Sweden +4.8 pts
(vs Japan)
−1.6%2025
81.52024
Overall Price Level
Sweden +22.3 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
Sweden
10 Years Ago
$59,542 (2015)
Historical Peak
$63,923 (2021)
Latest Wage
$61,443 (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
Sweden (SWE)Japan (JPN)
Overall
+22.3 index points
100
81.5vs59.2
Food
−21.2 index points
100
90.8vs112
Clothing
+38.0 index points
100
109vs71
Housing
+15.7 index points
100
64.2vs48.5
Health
+37.5 index points
100
71.4vs33.9
Transport
+32.6 index points
100
117vs84.4
Recreation
+20.0 index points
100
98.4vs78.4
Restaurants & Accommodation
+24.4 index points
100
97vs72.6
What Stands Out
01
Latest Wage Gap
Sweden's latest average wage is $61,443 for 2025, about 22.4% higher than Japan's $50,183 for 2025 — a percentage worked out directly from the two reported figures. Per year, that works out to roughly $11,261 on the shared purchasing-power basis.
02
Stronger Recent Trend
On the latest one-year change, Sweden shows the stronger movement at +0.9%, against −0.5% for Japan. The five-year horizon keeps the same ordering: −1.7% against −2.2%. Both percentages are real, PPP-adjusted changes from the reported wage series.
03
Largest Price Gap
Clothing shows the widest price gap of the comparable categories in 2024: 109 for Sweden against 71 for Japan. That is a separation of 38.0 index points on the US=100 scale, with Sweden on the higher side and Japan 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 Housing: Sweden reads 64.2 and Japan 48.5 for 2024, just 15.7 index points apart on the US=100 scale. The next closest is Recreation at 20.0 index points apart. A gap this small leaves the category effectively tied on the shared US=100 scale.
Understanding the Comparison
Wage Position
Sweden holds a clear wage lead in this pairing: $61,443 for 2025, against Japan's $50,183 for 2025. The higher figure exceeds the lower one by 22.4% in relative terms — a percentage calculated from the two reported values — or roughly $11,261 a year. No extra conversion is needed here: each figure is already a purchasing-power-adjusted annual amount in constant prices. 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% against Japan's −1.6%, so the current levels were reached on visibly different long-term paths.
Wage Direction
The five-year direction is shared here: both series decline, with different momentum on each side. Sweden is partway through a recovery: the latest year added +0.9%, though the level remains 3.9% below its peak. Japan continues to drift below its peak, with a one-year change of −0.5% and a five-year change of −2.2%. Japan's five-year change of −2.2% outpaces Sweden's −1.7% in magnitude, so the common direction does not mean the two levels are holding a fixed distance. 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 Japan's reads 59.2, each measured against the United States reference of 100. One side of this pairing dominates the price profile: Sweden sits higher in 7 of the 8 comparable categories. Clothing separates the two most: Sweden reads 109 and Japan 71, 38.0 index points apart. The two sit closest in Housing (64.2 versus 48.5), only 15.7 index points apart. Counted against the US reference of 100, 2 of Sweden'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.
