Living Wages, Living Income, Living Tariff Worldwide. Update November 2025

Abstract

A growing international consensus recognises the payment of a Living Wage as a fundamental component of decent work and a prerequisite for social and economic sustainability. This principle is rooted in Article 23 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which asserts the right to just remuneration sufficient for a dignified existence, and is reinforced by at least eight of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Recent regulatory frameworks and global initiatives such as the OECD Due Diligence Guidelines and the UN Global Compact’s Forward Faster programme underscore increasing expectations for companies to ensure wages that meet workers’ basic needs, both within their operations and across supply chains. A major milestone was reached with the ILO Meeting of Experts on Wage Policies, including Living Wages, in 2024, which produced a formal consensus and principles for wage-setting. These principles emphasise transparent and evidence-based wage determination through tripartite social dialogue and collective bargaining.

Definitions of a Living Wage across international organisations, national constitutions, and civil society initiatives reveal broad convergence around the principle of meeting workers’ and their families’ basic needs. Some, such as the Brazilian Constitution, introduce mechanisms for preserving real wage value through periodic adjustments. However, the Living Wage remains a voluntary estimate, rather than a statutory minimum, and is increasingly viewed as a tool to inform wage negotiations and guide incremental progress from minimum to living wages (ILO, 2024).

Within this landscape, WageIndicator has developed its Living Wage methodology since 2013. It operates in 208 countries, and collects extensive cost-of-living information through professionalised, mixed-method data collection including local fieldwork, price data collection and monitoring and web surveys. Over the years, WageIndicator has expanded both its methodological sophistication and geographical granularity, most recently providing subnational estimates for India (145 divisions), China (359 prefectures), and the United States (625 commuting zones). Its databases support a wide range of stakeholders, including multinational companies, trade unions, international organisations, NGOs, and academic researchers. WageIndicator’s methodology adheres to ILO principles pf estimating a living wage by ensuring transparency, sensitivity to national contexts, regular updates, and public accessibility. It provides separate estimates for salaried workers (Living Wage), the self-employed and family businesses (Living Income), and from 2024 the platform and gig economy and other self-employed workers (Living Tariff), which incorporates occupation-specific costs such as equipment, insurance, and waiting time.

The 2025 edition of WageIndicator’s Living Wages, Living Income, Living Tariff report consolidates more than a decade of development in Living Wage estimation and expands the framework’s global applicability. Methodological updates in 2025 include a revised formula for estimating the number of household earners, improved cost-of-living survey instruments, and further guidance for applying and implementing the Living Wage estimates.