If everyone earned the same amount (including babies) across the entire world, we’d each get about $USD10,000 each. So a family of four anywhere in the world would get about $NZD49,000. That figure makes world poverty pretty hard to stomach. It’s not that there’s not enough in this world – only that some people haven’t learnt to share.
But past that bald statistic, the BBC has a whole set of new stats out from the ILO.
For the first time the ILO reveals what the average wage earner gets, with fair comparison between countries. Using Purchasing-Power Parity USD they work out what people get for their money once cost of living etc is taken into account. We can see that New Zealand doesn’t do as well as you’d hope – although more than 50% better than average.
There’s several things to be said about the stats – it’s those with a regular income only, so not the self-employed, nor people on benefits. It misses a number of very poor countries, including some large ones like Nigeria. It’s the average, not the median too, so could be skewed by high-earners: but still, the numbers are not that high.
It works out for those who are earning (not the old or young or their dependents), they’re bringing in about $USD18,000 each year.
That’s a bit under $NZD22,000, or noticeably below minimum wage but above basic benefit level in Aotearoa.
Just some hard statistics to ponder when you’re feeling poor.
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