This statistic shows the share of rural Americans who could not afford an unexpected expense in 2019, by income. During the survey, ** percent of rural Americans who had an income of ****** U.S. dollars to ****** U.S. dollars reported that they would not be able to pay off an unexpected expense of 1,000 U.S. dollars right away.

This statistic shows the total personal income in the United States from 1990 to 2023. The data are in current U.S. dollars not adjusted for inflation or deflation. According to the BEA, personal income is the income that is received by persons from all sources. It is calculated as the sum of wage and salary disbursements, supplements to wages and salaries, proprietors' income with inventory valuation and capital consumption adjustments, rental income of persons with capital consumption adjustment, personal dividend income, personal interest income, and personal current transfer receipts, less contributions for government social insurance. Personal income increased to about 23 trillion U.S. dollars in 2023.Personal income Personal income in the United States has risen steadily over the last decades from 5.07 trillion U.S. dollars in 1991 to 23 trillion U.S. dollars in 2023. Personal income includes all earnings including wages, investments, and other sources. Personal income also varied widely across the U.S., where those living in the District of Columbia, on the higher scale, earned an average of 96,873 U.S. dollars per capita and on the lower end of the spectrum, people in Mississippi earned 45,438 U.S. dollars per capita. In the District of Columbia, disposable income averaged some 81,193 U.S. dollars. In total, California earned the most personal income followed by Texas, receiving three trillion U.S. dollars and 1.76 trillion U.S. dollars, respectively. Income tends to vary widely between demographics in the United States. Those with higher education levels tend to earn more money. However, only 25.7 percent of persons with a disability that had a Bachelor's degree or higher were employed in 2020. The Social Security and Supplemental Security Income disability programs provide monetary benefits to the disabled and certain family members.

According to a recent study, Colombia had the lowest monthly cost of living in Latin America with 546 U.S. dollars needed for basic living. In contrast, four countries had a cost of living above one thousand dollars, Costa Rica, Chile, Panama and Uruguay. In 2022, the highest minimum wage in the region was recorded by Ecuador with 425 dollars per month.

Can Latin Americans survive on a minimum wage? Even if most countries in Latin America have instated laws to guarantee citizens a basic income, these minimum standards are often not enough to meet household needs. For instance, it was estimated that almost 22 million people in Mexico lacked basic housing services. Salary levels also vary greatly among Latin American economies. In 2022, the average net monthly salary in Brazil was lower than Ecuador's minimum wage.

What can a minimum wage afford in Latin America? Latin American real wages have generally risen in the past decade. However, consumers in this region still struggle to afford non-basic goods, such as tech products. Recent estimates reveal that, in order to buy an iPhone, Brazilian residents would have to work more than two months to be able to pay for it. A gaming console, on the other hand, could easily cost a Latin American worker several minimum wages.

The annual salary received by members of the United States Congress in 2025 is ******* U.S. dollars. This has been the case since 2009. The Government Ethics Reform Act of 1989 provides an automatic cost of living adjustment increase in line with the

After a steep decline, starting in 2010 and culminating in the bottom value of 19,939 euros, average annual wages in Portugal increased to unprecedented figures. By 2021, the mean wage per year of work was 21,717 euros, despite the more than 200-euro drop that followed in 2022. By 2023, annual wages rose to 22,006 euros. The salary increase is not enough to tackle living expenses The surge in salaries is even more evident when considering minimum annual wages. Following a period of stagnation between 2011 and 2014, the Portuguese minimum annual salary has been on a hike, reaching 11,480 euros by 2024. This rise is relevant when considering the impact of growing inflation on the prices of goods and services, as it restores some purchasing power to workers. Nevertheless, 50 percent of Portuguese people stated, in 2023, that their professional income was mostly not enough to face up to living expenses. Youngsters and women struggle the most when it comes to unemployment and salary amounts The unemployment rate in the country was at six percent in the second quarter of 2024, having decreased from the previous quarter. People between 16 and 24 years of age were the most affected by unemployment, with shares of 22 percent in the same quarter. Women followed as the second most impacted by this social issue. The gender gap is also notorious when it comes to wages. In 2022, women’s average monthly salaries were over 13 percent lower than the salaries of their male counterparts, which impairs women in the tackling of the rising cost of living.

In 2023, the median hourly earnings of wage and salary workers in the United States was 19.24 U.S. dollars. This is an increase from 1979, when median hourly earnings were at 4.44 U.S. dollars. Hourly Workers The United States national minimum wage is 7.25 U.S. dollars per hour, which has been the minimum wage since 2009. However, each state has the agency to set their state minimum wage. Furthermore, some cities are able to create their minimum wage. Many argue that the minimum wage is too low and should be raised, because it is not considered a living wage. There has been a movement to raise the minimum wage to 15 U.S. dollars per hour, called “Fight for 15” which began in the early 2010s. While there has been no movement at the federal level, some states have moved to increase their minimum wages, with at least three states and the District of Columbia setting minimum wage rates at or above 15 dollars per hour. More recently, some proponents of increasing the minimum wage say that 15 dollars is too low, and lawmakers should strive toward a higher goal, especially given that a 2021 analysis found that the minimum wage in the U.S. should be 22.88 U.S. dollars if it grew at the same rate as economic productivity. Salary Workers On the other hand, salary workers in the United States do not get paid on an hourly basis. The median weekly earnings of salary workers have significantly increased since 1979. Asian salary workers had the highest hourly earnings in the U.S. in 2021. Among female salary workers, those ages 45 to 54 years old had the highest median hourly earnings in 2021, likewise for male salary workers.

The median family income in the United States grew to 100,800 U.S. dollars in 2023, an increase on the previous year. Family income is the total income earned by all family members who have been living in the household for at least one year and are at least 14 years old.

The national minimum wage for federal workers in Nigeria reached ****** Nigerian naira (NGN) in 2024, which equaled about ** U.S. dollars. On July 23, 2024, this minimum wage of ****** NGN was passed into law, increasing from the previous amount of ****** NGN. According to most recent data, the monthly cost of living for an individual in Nigeria amounted to ****** NGN on average, whereas this figure added up to over ******* NGN for a family. Dependency ratio In 2023, the labor dependency ratio in Nigeria was estimated at *** percent, showing no significant change since 2012. This metric represents the proportion of dependents who are either not part of the workforce or are unemployed, in relation to the total employed population. Nigeria's compensation trends and workload statistics In 2023, individuals working in executive management and change roles garnered the highest average annual salary in Nigeria at ****** U.S. dollars. In the same year, the employed workforce in Nigeria contributed to a collective weekly workload exceeding *** billion hours. Two years earlier, the workload was estimated at about *** billion hours.

In 2023, the average annual wage in South Korea fell to 47,715 U.S. dollars after adjusting for purchasing power parity (PPP). The average salary in South Korea showed a general trend of positive growth within the given period. The monthly wage was projected to reach over 5,400 U.S. dollars in 2040, the highest value among the surveyed countries. Work-life balance South Korea has some of the longest working hours in the world. Although working hours in the country have decreased over the past decade, measures such as flexible working hours have been implemented to promote a better work-life balance. Nevertheless, South Korea still ranks among the top five countries with the longest working hours in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Many South Koreans tend to prefer working for a company that offers a good work-life balance rather than a company that offers a higher salary. This preference is especially strong among parents. Women in the job market While the employment rate of South Korean women has increased steadily over the past decade, the gender pay gap persists. On average, female workers earned about 65 percent of their male counterparts’ income. The average monthly salary in South Korea was around 4.26 million South Korean won for men and about 2.78 million won for women that year.

In 2025, the minimum hourly wage in Beijing was the highest in China at 26.4 yuan per hour. In the past decade, China has been shifting from a cheap labor driven economy to more matured, service-oriented markets and industries. While the economy continues to grow, prices and wages keep on increasing as well. How do wages differ across the country? China’s provinces and municipalities are divided into districts of different levels. Most provinces set different minimum wages for different districts depending on the cost of living and level of development. Usually, provincial capitals and major cities enjoy higher hourly wages than smaller towns and rural areas of the same province. In 2025, the highest minimum hourly wages in China were to be found in Beijing and Tianjin municipalities with 26.4 and 24.4 yuan respectively, whereas employees in Hainan province who received a minimum wage were paid the least – between 16.3 and 17.9 yuan per hour. Minimum monthly wages that year were the highest in Shanghai and the lowest in Qinghai province. The average annual salary in urban China was around 120,700 yuan in 2023. What are the prospects? Regional governments in China are required to update their minimum wages at least every few years. Hebei, Fujian, and Guangdong – provinces that have not adjusted minimum wages in the past two years – are likely to do so in 2025. Along with economic development, increasing living standards, increasing prices and a shrinking labor force, overall minimum wages will likely continue growing in China.

The median hourly earnings for full-time employees in the United Kingdom was 18.72 British pounds in 2024, compared with 17.48 pounds in the previous year. At the start of this provided time period, in 1997, the average hourly wage in the UK was 7.92 pounds per hour, rising to more than ten pounds per hour by 2003, and above 15 pounds per hour by 2020. Minimum and living wage in the UK In the United Kingdom, employers are expected to pay their employees a minimum wage that is determined by how old they are. Under 18s for example, had a minimum wage of 5.28 British pounds in 2023, with the figure increasing to 7.49 pounds those aged 18 to 20, 10.18 for 21 to 22 year old's, and 10.42 for those aged 23 and over. There is also a voluntarily paid living Wage that employers can choose to pay their workers. For the 2023/24 financial year this was twelve pounds an hour, rising to 13.15 pounds an hour for workers based in London. Icelandic the highest earners in Europe Iceland had the highest average annual wage in the Europe in 2022 at around 79,500 U.S dollars. This was followed by Luxembourg at 78,300 dollars, Switzerland at 72,990 and Belgium at 64,850 dollars. The United Kingdom’s average annual wage amounted to around 53,985 U.S dollars in the same year. In this year, the country with the lowest annual salary in Europe was Greece, at 25,980 pounds per year.

In the three months to June 2025, average weekly earnings in the United Kingdom grew by five percent, while pay including bonuses grew by 4.6 percent, when compared with the same period leading to June 2024. In the same month, the inflation rate for the Consumer Price Index was 3.6 percent, indicating that wages were rising faster than prices that month. Average salaries in the UK In 2024, the average salary for full-time workers in the UK was 37,430 British pounds a year, up from 34,963 in the previous year. In London, the average annual salary was far higher than the rest of the country, at 47,455 pounds per year, compared with just 32,960 in North East England. There also still exists a noticeable gender pay gap in the UK, which was seven percent for full-time workers in 2024, down from 7.5 percent in 2023. Lastly, the monthly earnings of the top one percent in the UK was 15,887 pounds as of November 2024, far higher than even that of the average for the top five percent, who earned 7,641 pounds per month, while pay for the lowest 10 percent of earners was just 805 pounds per month. Waves of industrial action in the UK One of the main consequences of high inflation and low wage growth throughout 2022 and 2023 was an increase in industrial action in the UK. In December 2022, for example, there were approximately 830,000 working days lost due to labor disputes. Throughout this month, workers across various industry sectors were involved in industrial disputes, such as nurses, train drivers, and driving instructors. Many of the workers who took part in strikes were part of the UK's public sector, which saw far weaker wage growth than that of the private sector throughout 2022. Widespread industrial action continued into 2023, with approximately 303,000 workers involved in industrial disputes in March 2023. There was far less industrial action by 2024, however, due to settlements in many of the disputes, although some are ongoing as of 2025.

The monthly minimum wage in Russia as of January 1, 2025, amounted to ****** Russian rubles, or approximately *** U.S. dollars using the exchange rate as of February 28, 2025. In the capital Moscow, it was set at ****** Russian rubles, or around *** U.S. dollars. In the country's second-largest city, Saint Petersburg, it was lower, at ****** Russian rubles. Since 2021, the minimum wage in Russia has been calculated as 42 percent of the median wage. Between 2018 and 2020, it equaled to the minimum cost of living that was set in the country. The poor and the rich in Russia Around ** million residents lived under the poverty line in Russia. Those earning the highest 20 percent of income accounted for approximately ** percent of the total composite monetary income in 2023, while the group with the lowest income had a ***-percent share. Regional disparities The economic disparity was also observed across Russian federal subjects. The median monthly wage ranged from ****** Russian rubles in the Kabardino-Balkaria Republic to ****** Russian rubles in the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug between September 2018 and August 2019. Minimum wage thresholds can be regulated by regional authorities, as long as they are not lower than the federal minimum wage.