Countries in Asia with the highest average salaries 2024

The Highest Average Salaries in Asia in 2024

On CEOWORLD Magazine’s 2024 list, Singapore pays the highest average wage in Asia: US$4,350 a month before tax, which places it 11th of 196 countries worldwide. The United Arab Emirates follows on $3,663 and Israel on $3,608, only $55 apart. Qatar, Hong Kong, Japan ($2,476), Cyprus, South Korea, Macau, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Taiwan come next, and Bahrain closes the chart on $1,728 in 45th place. The ranks are world ranks, which is why they skip.

One Continent, a Hundredfold Gap

Asia here is the whole continent, so it takes in the Gulf states, Israel and Cyprus as well as East Asia. The figures are a business magazine’s compilation of gross wages converted at the exchange rate of the day, read on 16 January 2025 and not updated since.

The same list holds Asian countries far lower down. China is 63rd on $1,122 and India 85th on $628, two of the comparison rows in the highest average salaries by country. Pakistan is 145th on $163 and North Korea 192nd on $37, in the lowest average salaries by country. Singapore’s average is more than a hundred times North Korea’s.

Singapore Leads Asia on Output per Hour

Singapore’s location on a busy shipping route has made it a centre for trade, shipping and finance, and its output shows it. In the ILO’s 2024 labour productivity per hour worked, Singapore reads 99.45 international dollars, the fourth highest of 182 and the highest of any country on this chart. Japan reads 52.14. On the World Bank’s GDP per person employed, which counts output rather than pay, Singapore has the third highest reading of 171.

Singapore’s people also work longer. The ILO’s average weekly hours worked for 2024 puts them at 44.64 hours, against 31.1 in Japan.

Gulf Averages Cover Very Different Workers

In four of the Gulf states on this chart, international migrants are more than half the population. UN DESA’s 2024 international migrants as a share of population is 76.66% in Qatar, 73.97% in the United Arab Emirates, 67.35% in Kuwait and 52.28% in Bahrain. A single average covers citizens and migrants alike. Qatar’s statutory minimum wage in the ILO’s 2024 data is 1,000 riyals a month, about $275 at the riyal’s fixed rate to the dollar, while the list gives its average as $3,168.

Oil Economies Pay a Smaller Share to Labour

The ILO’s labour income share measures how much of national income goes to workers rather than to capital. In 2024 Bahrain reads 27.549%, Qatar 27.829%, Macau 29.831% and Saudi Arabia 30.778%: four of the 11 lowest readings of 182. Oil, gas and casinos earn large profits with relatively few workers, and the share moves with the shape of an economy as well as with pay. The ILO marks all four figures as imputations. Japan reads 54.809% and South Korea 58.128%.