🇻🇺Average income in Vanuatu

Key numbers

Vanuatu among its neighbours

What this number is, and is not

GNI per capita is Vanuatu's gross national income divided by its population. National income is everything residents earn in a year: wages, company profits, rent, interest, plus net income from abroad. Dividing by every resident, including children and pensioners, gives $4,970. The PPP conversion prices it in international dollars, so a dollar here buys roughly what a dollar buys in the United States.

It is not a median salary, and it is not take-home pay. It is before tax, it includes income that never reaches a payslip, and it is an average, which the highest earners pull upwards. The typical worker in Vanuatu earns less than $4,970. How much less depends on inequality and on how many residents are of working age, neither of which this one number shows.

Vanuatu is below the world figure of $25,517 and has 4% of the income per person of Singapore, the top of our list at $135,750.

Questions

What is the average income in Vanuatu?

$4,970 per person per year, measured as GNI per capita at purchasing power parity (World Bank, 2025). Spread over twelve months that is about $414. It is the country's total income divided by every resident, including children and retirees, so it is a national average rather than a wage.

Is $4,970 what a typical worker in Vanuatu earns?

No. The figure is before tax, counts company profits and rents as well as wages, and is averaged over the whole population. The median worker takes home less than this in every country, because a small number of high earners pull the average up. For an individual's position in Vanuatu's income distribution, use the income test on this site.

How does Vanuatu compare to Micronesia?

Micronesia ranks 152nd at $5,080, $110 more per person than Vanuatu. Against the world figure of $25,517, Vanuatu is 0.2 times it and Micronesia is 0.2 times it.