Did households get richer?
Did households get richer—or did the numbers just get bigger?
Adjusting for inflation reveals very different stories across 25 selected economies since around 2000.
🇵🇱 Poland: median disposable income rose approximately 120%.
🇨🇿 Czechia: up 60%.
🇬🇧 United Kingdom: up 32%.
🇺🇸 United States: up 19%.
🇮🇹 Italy and 🇬🇷 Greece: little change, with small declines.
The US has the highest latest income level among the countries shown. But some countries starting from much lower levels recorded considerably faster growth.
This chart measures income after taxes and benefits, adjusted for household size, inflation and differences in purchasing power. It captures the middle of the distribution, rather than the average.
The comparison runs from around 2000 to each country’s latest available observation, between 2020 and 2024. These are 25 selected economies with suitable data—not the world’s complete GDP top 25.
Source: Luxembourg Income Study, processed by Our World in Data.
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