What Are the Median Incomes and Wages in Azerbaijan?
To get a complete picture of the population’s socio-economic situation, analysts typically use the median income indicator. Unlike the average monthly income, the median income reflects the real social conditions of people more accurately. The median income is the level at which half of the population earns less and the other half earns more. This indicator is used to avoid the effect of sharp income disparities on the statistical average. High-income sectors such as oil and finance can raise average wage indicators. As a result, the average is not representative of most people’s lived reality. In contrast, the median income remains more stable in the face of outlier high earnings. This measure is used as a key indicator in areas such as tax policy, setting the minimum wage, and measuring the poverty level.
Median incomes help determine the level of social inequality at the national level. They also reveal gaps in the national economic and sector-specific social policies. Information on median income helps identify critical problems in the labor market, assess risks, correct economic policy, and provide more realistic forecasts for citizens’ living standards.
Median wage is a component of median income. In many countries – especially developed ones like the United States, France, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Canada – the level of median wages is officially disclosed. For example, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes not only annual and quarterly but also hourly median wage data. According to the latest report, in the first quarter of 2025, the median weekly wage in the U.S. was approximately $1,194. Some countries establish a link between median income and minimum earnings. In Russia, based on federal law, since 2021 the subsistence minimum has been set at 42% of the median income. There are plans to increase this rate to 48% by 2025.
In Azerbaijan, there is no official data available in public sources regarding median income or median wage levels. Although the government releases information such as average per capita income, average monthly wage, and minimum wage, it does not disclose the income threshold below which half of the population earns. This lack of data prevents a comprehensive understanding of actual income inequality.
Given this situation, the expert group at the Baku Research Institute has calculated the median income and median wage based on open data from the State Statistics Committee (Tables 1 and 2).
Table 1: Distribution of Household Per Capita Income in Urban and Rural Areas in 2023, in Percentages
From the data in Table 1, we can see that the median income across the country in 2023 was approximately in the range of 310–320 manats. This means that 50% of the population had a monthly income not exceeding 320 manats.
A comparison based on settlement type shows that the amount of median income differs between urban and rural residents. According to statistical indicators, in 2023, 53.8% of urban households had a per capita monthly income not exceeding 340 manats, while 47.8% earned no more than 320 manats. To determine the exact threshold below or above which 50% of household incomes fall, we can use the following formula. This is used to estimate the median value from grouped data.
• L is the lower boundary of the median class;
• n is the total number of observations;
• c is the cumulative frequency of the classes before the median class;
• f is the frequency of the median class;
• h is the width of the median class.
We select the population group closest to the 50% threshold. In this case, we use the indicators covering 47.8% and 53.8% of households. Now we substitute the values into the formula.
- L = 320.05 ((320+320,1)/2)
- c = 47.8% (cumulative before 50%)
- f = 6.0 (percentage of median interval)
- h = 20 (interval width: 340.05 – 320.05 = 20)
Thus, the median per capita monthly income for urban households in 2023 was 327.4 AZN.
If we perform a similar calculation for rural households, the result is as follows:
Therefore, in 2023, the national median household per capita income was about 310–320 AZN. For rural areas, it was 310.4 AZN. For urban areas, it was 327.4 AZN.
According to official data, 37.7% of household per capita monthly income in 2023 came from paid employment, i.e., wages. The national average monthly wage that year was 933.8 AZN. In November of that year, it was 829.9 AZN. According to Table 2 from the State Statistics Committee, at least 67.3% of workers earned less than the national average monthly wage (829.9 AZN) in November 2023. So, what was the level of the median wage?
Let us determine the median wage amount using the indicators in Table 2.
Table 2. Distribution of Wages for Employees Who Worked Full-Time in November 2023
Source: State Statistics Committee
As seen in Table 2, in November 2023, 43.3% of full-time workers earned no more than 500 AZN, while 52.8% earned no more than 600 AZN. Using the relevant formula, we can determine that the median wage was 571 AZN.
Therefore, in November 2023, the national median wage (571 AZN) was 68.8% of the average monthly wage (829.9 AZN). At that time, the minimum wage (345 AZN) was 60.4% of the median wage. As for per capita household income, the average monthly income in 2023 was 343.2 manats. The median income was 320 manats. This means the median income was 93% of the average.
Diagram 1. Average and median indicators of wages and monthly income, in AZN (2023)
This shows that inequality is greater in monthly wages than in overall monthly income. One reason is that wages in the oil and finance sectors are higher compared to other sectors. Another reason is that the concept of monthly income includes not only wages but also pensions, social payments, allowances, and informal earnings. Because these categories tend to be more uniform, the gap between the average and median income is smaller.
Although official data on the level of median income is not disclosed in Azerbaijan, many countries—including those that are both neighbors of our country and have similar economic and political governance systems—do publish this indicator through their national statistical agencies. In those countries, median incomes are reported not only overall on a monthly basis but also by gender and across different sectors of the economy. These published figures make it possible to assess the level of income inequality among the population, including among wage earners. For example, in Georgia, the median income of wage earners in 2023 was 1,238 GEL. This was equivalent to 70.1% of the average wage during that period. In the same year, the ratio of median wage to average monthly wage was 62.5% in Russia and 69% in Kazakhstan. Similar to Azerbaijan (68.8%), this indicates a high level of income inequality among wage earners in those countries as well.
