REAL household income per capita in the OECD increased by 0.7% in Q4 2025, up from 0.3% in Q3, and outpaced real GDP per capita growth of 0.2%. GDP growth focuses on the change in aggregate economic activity, while household income growth reflects the change in income earned by households, i.e., the income available for spending or saving. Among the 20 countries with available data, 14 recorded growth in real household income per capita, 4 recorded a contraction and remained the same.
Among G7 economies, growth in real household income per capita was stable at 0.1% in Q4 2025, reflecting varied outcomes across countries. In the United Kingdom, real household income per capita increased by 1.1% following a 1.2% decrease in Q3. This rebound mainly reflected increases in remuneration of employees and social benefits, and lower taxes on income and wealth. Meanwhile, real GDP per capita in the UK contracted for the second quarter in a row, by 0.1%. By contrast, growth in real household income per capita slowed slightly in Canada (from 0.2% in Q3 to 0.1% in Q4) and in the United States (from 0.1% to 0.0%), and more strongly in Germany (from 0.6% to 0.0%). Italy saw a large contraction in real household income per capita, dropping to -0.9% in Q4 2025 after a 0.4% increase in Q3. This was mainly due to a pickup in inflation and a decline in received property income. Real GDP per capita growth in Italy remained relatively stable at 0.3%. In France, real household income per capita continued to contract, although at a slower pace than the previous quarter, from -0.4% in Q3 to -0.2% in Q4.
Among other OECD countries, Greece and Poland experienced the largest expansions of real household income per capita, rising from -1.3% and -0.8% in Q3 2025 to 3.3% and 2.5% in Q4 2025, respectively. In Greece, this was partly due to increases in net property income as well as in remuneration of employees, with the unemployment rate reaching its lowest value since 2009. Real GDP per capita growth in Greece rose from 0.6% to 0.7%. In Poland, increases in remuneration of employees2 offset decreased social benefits, resulting in an acceleration of real household income per capita growth, while real GDP per capita growth remained stable at 1.2%. By contrast, in Finland, increases in taxes on income and wealth eroded real household income per capita, which continued to contract, though less than the previous quarter (-0.6% in Q4 after -0.8% in Q3).
For 2025 as a whole, growth in real household income per capita in the OECD slowed to 0.8%, down from 2.1% in 2024, while growth in real OECD GDP per capita remained steady at 1.2% (Figure 2). Austria recorded the sharpest contraction, falling to -1.8% after growth of 3.6% in 2024. By contrast, Poland recorded the strongest increase for the second year in a row, at 4.1%, followed by Chile, at 2.3%. |
