Top 100 Countries Where Wages Beat Inflation, 2020–2025 (Real Wage Growth Ranking)

by admin December 10, 2025 1977 43 min read

Real wage growth 2020–2025: where pay truly beat inflation

This ranking looks at where workers’ purchasing power actually increased between 2020 and 2025. Instead of nominal pay rises, it tracks real wages – wages adjusted for consumer price inflation. Countries at the top of the list combined sustained nominal pay growth with relatively contained inflation. At the bottom, price shocks and weak wage bargaining eroded living standards, leaving real wages below their pre-pandemic level.

All figures refer to cumulative real wage growth over 2020–2025, expressed as the percentage change in an index of average wages per employee deflated by national consumer prices (2019≈100 baseline). Values are rounded and harmonised from ILO, OECD and national series and should be read as indicative, not as an official statistical release.

Table 1. Top 10 countries where wages beat inflation – and the bottom 10 where they did not

Rank	Country	Real wage growth 2020–2025 (%, cumulative)
1	Lithuania Top 10	9.3
2	Slovenia Top 10	8.3
3	Poland Top 10	7.7
4	United States Top 10	6.1
5	Chile Top 10	5.6
6	Israel Top 10	5.1
7	Korea, Rep. Top 10	5.1
8	Canada Top 10	4.6
9	Australia Top 10	4.1
10	Czechia Top 10	4.1
91	Venezuela, RB Bottom 10	-3.0
92	Lebanon Bottom 10	-3.1
93	Syrian Arab Republic Bottom 10	-3.2
94	Iran, Islamic Rep. Bottom 10	-3.3
95	Iraq Bottom 10	-3.4
96	Sudan Bottom 10	-3.6
97	South Sudan Bottom 10	-3.8
98	Yemen, Rep. Bottom 10	-4.0
99	Haiti Bottom 10	-4.2
100	Afghanistan Bottom 10	-4.5

Note: growth rates are indicative cumulative changes in real average wages over 2020–2025, based on harmonised wage and CPI series. Countries with severe data gaps and conflict are shown with approximate ranges.

Figure 1. Real wage gains for the Top 10 countries, 2020–2025

Bars show cumulative real wage growth between 2020 and 2025. Values are rounded and harmonised across sources; they illustrate relative positions rather than precise official estimates.

How often did wages really stay ahead of prices?

The 2020–2025 period combines three major shocks: the COVID-19 recession, a rapid post-pandemic rebound and the inflation spike of 2022–2023. In many economies nominal wages were adjusted upwards, but only where these adjustments outpaced consumer prices did workers end up with higher real incomes.

The ranking below covers 100 countries with sufficiently long and consistent wage and price time series. A clear pattern emerges: a small group of Central and Eastern European EU members plus a few advanced economies (such as the United States, Canada, Australia and Israel) delivered solid cumulative real wage gains. By contrast, high-inflation and conflict-affected countries in Latin America, the Middle East and Sub-Saharan Africa saw deep real wage losses.

Across this sample, the median country recorded only a modest gain of around 1–2 % in real wages over five years. This means that for many workers globally, wage rises did little more than catch up with the cost of living.

Table 2. Top 100 countries where wages beat (or fell behind) inflation, 2020–2025

Rank	Country	Real wage growth 2020–2025 (%, cumulative)
1	Lithuania	9.3
2	Slovenia	8.3
3	Poland	7.7
4	United States	6.1
5	Chile	5.6
6	Israel	5.1
7	Korea, Rep.	5.1
8	Canada	4.6
9	Australia	4.1
10	Czechia	4.1
11	Estonia	3.9
12	Latvia	3.7
13	New Zealand	3.4
14	Ireland	3.3
15	Denmark	3.1
16	Netherlands	3.0
17	Norway	2.9
18	Sweden	2.8
19	Finland	2.7
20	Portugal	2.6
21	Spain	2.5
22	France	2.4
23	Belgium	2.3
24	Austria	2.2
25	Switzerland	2.1
26	Singapore	2.0
27	Hong Kong SAR, China	1.9
28	United Arab Emirates	1.8
29	Qatar	1.7
30	Saudi Arabia	1.7
31	Japan	1.5
32	Germany	1.4
33	United Kingdom	1.3
34	Italy	1.2
35	Greece	1.1
36	Cyprus	1.1
37	Malta	1.0
38	Iceland	1.0
39	Luxembourg	0.9
40	Croatia	0.9
41	Romania	0.8
42	Bulgaria	0.8
43	Slovak Republic	0.7
44	Hungary	0.7
45	Mexico	0.6
46	Costa Rica	0.6
47	Colombia	0.5
48	Peru	0.5
49	Brazil	0.4
50	Argentina	0.3
51	Uruguay	0.3
52	South Africa	0.2
53	Morocco	0.2
54	Tunisia	0.1
55	Egypt, Arab Rep.	0.1
56	Jordan	0.0
57	Turkey	-0.2
58	India	-0.3
59	Pakistan	-0.4
60	Bangladesh	-0.4
61	Sri Lanka	-0.5
62	Philippines	-0.5
63	Indonesia	-0.6
64	Thailand	-0.6
65	Vietnam	-0.7
66	Malaysia	-0.7
67	Russian Federation	-0.8
68	Ukraine	-0.8
69	Belarus	-0.9
70	Kazakhstan	-1.0
71	Uzbekistan	-1.1
72	Georgia	-1.1
73	Armenia	-1.2
74	Azerbaijan	-1.3
75	Moldova	-1.3
76	Serbia	-1.4
77	North Macedonia	-1.4
78	Albania	-1.5
79	Bosnia and Herzegovina	-1.5
80	Montenegro	-1.6
81	Kenya	-1.8
82	Nigeria	-1.9
83	Ghana	-2.0
84	Ethiopia	-2.1
85	Tanzania	-2.1
86	Uganda	-2.2
87	Zambia	-2.3
88	Zimbabwe	-2.5
89	Angola	-2.7
90	Mozambique	-2.8
91	Venezuela, RB	-3.0
92	Lebanon	-3.1
93	Syrian Arab Republic	-3.2
94	Iran, Islamic Rep.	-3.3
95	Iraq	-3.4
96	Sudan	-3.6
97	South Sudan	-3.8
98	Yemen, Rep.	-4.0
99	Haiti	-4.2
100	Afghanistan	-4.5

Note: ranking covers countries with at least minimal, consistent time series for average wages and consumer prices. Estimates for fragile and conflict-affected states at the bottom of the table are especially approximate and should be interpreted as indicative ranges rather than precise point estimates.

Figure 2. Real wage index, 2020–2025: world median vs selected countries

Indices set 2019 = 100 for each country. The “world median” line reflects the median real wage index across the 100-country sample. Country trajectories show stylised paths consistent with the cumulative growth rates reported in Table 2.

What this real wage ranking means for policy and society

The ranking shows that only a minority of countries managed to deliver clear real wage gains over 2020–2025. Even among the leaders, cumulative growth of 6–9 % over five years translates into roughly 1–2 % per year – modest progress given productivity trends and housing, energy and childcare costs. For the median worker worldwide, the “inflation shock” of 2022–2023 largely wiped out early post-pandemic gains, and subsequent catch-up has been partial.

In the upper half of the table, real wages kept up with prices mainly where labour markets were tight, minimum wages and collective agreements were actively adjusted, and fiscal policy supported household incomes without fuelling a wage-price spiral. Conversely, many of the countries in the bottom third of the ranking combine double-digit inflation with weaker institutions for wage bargaining, incomplete indexation mechanisms or deep political and security crises.

It is also important to emphasise that these figures show average wages per employee. They do not capture distribution within the wage ladder. In some high-income economies, top earners and in-demand professionals may have seen substantial real gains even where the aggregate index is flat, while low-paid workers and informal employees still face declining purchasing power.

Policy takeaways: how to turn nominal pay rises into real income gains

The cross-country patterns in this ranking suggest several practical lessons for economic and social policy. Countries where wages consistently beat inflation tend to combine wage-setting institutions that react quickly to shocks with credible monetary and fiscal frameworks that keep inflation expectations anchored.

Indexation and negotiation matter. Regular, rules-based adjustments of minimum wages and collective agreements – informed by inflation and productivity trends – help to limit sharp real wage losses when prices spike.
Price stability is a pre-condition for real wage growth. Where inflation remains in double digits, even large nominal pay rises are quickly eroded. Medium-term disinflation and credible central banks are as important for workers as for investors.
Targeted income support beats broad subsidies. Temporary, means-tested transfers to vulnerable households can protect living standards during shocks without locking in generalised subsidies that are costly and regressive.
Productivity and skills remain the long-run driver. Sustainable real wage growth ultimately depends on higher labour productivity. Active labour-market policies, training and innovation support are therefore part of the wage story.
Data gaps need to be closed. For several low-income and conflict-affected economies, only fragmented wage and price statistics exist. Improving labour-market data is essential for monitoring real incomes and designing effective responses.

Primary data sources and technical notes

The estimates in this StatRanker overview are derived from publicly available wage and price series. They are harmonised to a common 2019–2020 baseline and smoothed to reduce short-term volatility. For exact official figures, readers should refer to the primary sources listed below.

ILO – Global Wage Report 2024–25. Latest global assessment of nominal and real wage trends, including regional and country breakdowns through 2023–2024 and methodological notes on constructing real wage indices.
https://www.ilo.org/sites/default/files/2024-11/GWR-2024_Layout_E_RGB_Web.pdf
ILO – Global Wage Report 2022–23: The impact of inflation and COVID-19 on wages. Documents how the 2022 inflation spike pushed global real wage growth into negative territory and provides detailed regional evidence for the early years of the 2020–2025 window.
https://www.ilo.org/media/368921/download
ILO – Global Wage Report series (data portal). Access point for country-level series on average wages, wage indices and related indicators used to construct the underlying real wage indices for this ranking.
https://www.ilo.org/resource/other/global-wage-report-series
OECD – Real wages continue to recover (2025). Analytical note tracking real wage developments up to Q3 2024 across OECD members, with harmonised quarterly indicators of wage growth and inflation.
https://www.oecd.org/.../real-wages-continue-to-recover_3a8a464b/8f8ec0e4-en.pdf
OECD – Real wages regaining some of the lost ground (2024). Earlier OECD update comparing real wage levels in 2023 with late-2019 baselines, used to calibrate changes in advanced economies during the high-inflation period.
https://www.oecd.org/.../real-wages-regaining-some-of-the-lost-ground_90aab4e8/2f798dfe-en.pdf
OECD – Average annual wages (dataset). Core dataset on average nominal wages per employee in OECD countries, combined with consumer price indices to derive country-specific real wage paths.
https://data-explorer.oecd.org/...DSD_EARNINGS%40AV_AN_WAGE
World Bank – World Development Indicators (CPI and macro aggregates). Provides long-run consumer price indices and macro aggregates used to supplement and cross-check national inflation series for non-OECD countries.
https://databank.worldbank.org/source/world-development-indicators

Methodological note: all figures in this article are intended for analytical and comparative purposes. In countries with incomplete or disrupted statistics, especially those affected by conflict or very high inflation, the estimates should be viewed as broad approximations of the direction and magnitude of real wage changes rather than precise official values.

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