🇱🇦Average income in Laos

Key numbers

Laos among its neighbours

What this number is, and is not

GNI per capita is Laos'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 $9,800. 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 Laos earns less than $9,800. How much less depends on inequality and on how many residents are of working age, neither of which this one number shows.

Laos is below the world figure of $25,517 and has 7% of the income per person of Singapore, the top of our list at $135,750.

Questions

What is the average income in Laos?

$9,800 per person per year, measured as GNI per capita at purchasing power parity (World Bank, 2025). Spread over twelve months that is about $817. 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 $9,800 what a typical worker in Laos 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 Laos's income distribution, use the income test on this site.

How does Laos compare to Angola?

Angola ranks 126th at $9,840, $40 more per person than Laos. Against the world figure of $25,517, Laos is 0.4 times it and Angola is 0.4 times it.