REAL household income per capita in the OECD again rose by 0.3% in Q3 2025, while still lagging behind growth in real GDP per capita of 0.5%. Both figures are unchanged from the previous quarter. Among 20 countries for which data is available, 11 recorded growth, 8 recorded a decline, and 1 saw no change. However, growth of real household income per capita in the G7 area came to a halt, with most of the major economies recording a contraction.
Among G7 countries, the United Kingdom observed the largest fall (-0.8%) in Q3 2025, driven mainly by increases in taxes on income and wealth, while real GDP per capita growth was flat (0.0%). In France and Canada, real household income per capita fell (-0.3% and -0.1%, respectively) as consumer price inflation picked up; at the same time, real GDP per capita expanded (0.4% and 0.5%, respectively). Higher consumer price inflation also had a negative impact on real income per capita in the United States (-0.1%), ending the longest period of continuous post-COVID growth in the OECD which began in Q3 2022 (Figure 2); real GDP per capita in the United States rose (0.9%). By contrast, Italy observed an increase in real household income per capita (1.7%), driven by increases in remuneration of employees and net property income. Germany also showed growth (0.5%), driven mainly by remuneration of employees.
Among other OECD countries, Hungary recorded the largest increase in real household income per capita (1.6%), with real GDP per capita also increasing (0.9%). The rise in real income was supported in part by the sustained growth in remuneration of employees, which alongside Poland was among the strongest the OECD has seen since Q4 2022 (Figure 3). The largest decline in real household income per capita was observed in the Netherlands (-1.6%), where increases in net social contributions and taxes on income and wealth offset rises in remuneration of employees, while GDP per capita grew (0.2%).
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