Japan vs Syria

Japan's GDP per person at purchasing power parity was $55,422 in 2025, 11 times Syria's $4,905 (2022), so Japan is the richer of the two by this measure. At market exchange rates, GDP per person was $35,951 in Japan and $1,057 (2022) in Syria. Japan ranks 38th and Syria 153rd of the 186 countries with figures.

Prices across Japan's economy averaged 301% of Syria's in 2025, so $100 spent in Japan buys about what $33.20 buys in Syria, and a dollar goes 3.0 times as far in Syria. Against the United States, prices averaged 65% of US prices in Japan and 22% in Syria. The World Bank's PPP conversion factor was 97.08 (Japanese yen) per international dollar in Japan and 808.0 (Syrian pound) in Syria.

In 2025, Japan's GDP was $4.44 trillion at market exchange rates and $6.84 trillion at PPP; Syria's GDP was $23.7 billion (2022) at market exchange rates and $110 billion (2022) at PPP. At market rates Japan's economy is 187 times Syria's, and at PPP 62 times. Japan has 123.4 million people and Syria 25.6 million.

In 2025, gross national income per person by the World Bank's Atlas method was $38,340 in Japan and $720 (2022) in Syria; at PPP it was $58,920 and $4,740 (2022). The World Bank classes Japan as high income and Syria as low income. In household surveys, the median person's income or consumption was $42.17 a day ($15,392 a year) in Japan, from a 2020 survey of income, and $4.61 a day ($1,683 a year) in Syria, from a 2022 survey of consumption, in 2021 international dollars. Income and consumption aren't measured the same way, so compare those two with care.

After inflation, GDP per person at PPP grew 18% in Japan from 2000 to 2022, 0.7% a year, and fell 43% in Syria, −2.5% a year. Japan's was 5.0 times Syria's in 2000 and 10 times in 2022.

A rate that converts money between countries by what it buys rather than by the exchange rate. An international dollar buys in any country what a US dollar buys in the United States. The World Bank's International Comparison Program prices the same goods and services around the world to set these rates, so GDP at PPP compares how much economies actually produce, without exchange rate swings or price gaps.

GDP is the value of everything produced inside a country. GNI, gross national income, adds income residents earn abroad and takes away income sent to foreign owners and workers. They differ most where foreign companies or workers take a large share, as in Ireland or Luxembourg, so GNI per person is closer to what a country's residents earn.

A way of converting GNI to US dollars that averages a country's exchange rate over three years, adjusted for inflation, so one year's currency swing doesn't jump it from one income group to another. The World Bank uses it to sort countries into low, lower-middle, upper-middle and high income each July.

Median income or consumption comes from household surveys, which most countries run every few years and some haven't run in a long time. Many lower-income countries measure what households spend rather than what they earn. This page shows the latest survey from the past 15 years in the World Bank's Poverty and Inequality Platform, with its year, and says when there isn't one.

From the World Bank's World Development Indicators, last updated October 8, 2026, with figures through 2025, and median income or consumption from its Poverty and Inequality Platform (September 22, 2026 release). Each figure is the latest the World Bank has for that country, from 2015 on; an older one is left out. The IMF publishes its own estimates, which usually differ by a few percent.

No. It's an educational comparison of official statistics. A country's average price level covers its whole economy, so your own costs in either place depend on where you live and what you buy.

• GDP and GNI in US dollars use market exchange rates; at PPP they use the World Bank's purchasing power parities, in international dollars.
• The price level is a country's GDP at market rates divided by its GDP at PPP: its prices against US prices, across the whole economy, not just what households buy. What $100 buys elsewhere is $100 times the ratio of the two price levels.
• GNI per person uses the Atlas method, the measure behind the World Bank's income groups.
• The chart is GDP per person at PPP in constant 2021 international dollars, so it shows growth after inflation.
• Figures: World Development Indicators, updated October 8, 2026; median income or consumption: Poverty and Inequality Platform, September 22, 2026 release. Series: GDP, GDP at PPP, GDP per person at PPP, PPP conversion factor, GNI per person (Atlas), GNI per person at PPP.