How much time do you need to become a millionaire?

People who have been professionally active for many of years rarely think about how much money they have earned throughout those years. That is why in this study, Picodi.com analysts calculated how many years of work are required to make 1 million euros in different countries while earning an average wage.

102 countries were included in our ranking. If we sum up all the money an average employee takes home, citizens of Switzerland will earn their first million the fastest – 15 years and 3 months. The second place belongs to Singapore with 18 years and 2 months. Citizens of Luxembourg have to work 4 months more – 18 years and 6 months. The USA and Iceland close out the top 5 with 21 years and 3 months and 22 years and 5 months respectively.

In this ranking, Ireland ranked 15^th – an employee earning the average wage will need 31 years and 3 months to make a million euros. With this result, Ireland overtook countries such as the UK (by 8 months), France (by 5 years) and Italy (by 22 years). On the other hand, Norwegian workers will earn their first million 4 years faster (11^th – 27 years), and there is a 16-year gap between Ireland and Switzerland (1^st – 15 years and 3 months).

A million euros is worth over 500 years of work in Nigeria (554 years), Uganda (559 years and 8 months), Egypt (646 years and 8 months) and Pakistan (664 years and 6 months).

As the numbers show, becoming a millionaire in one lifetime might be possible, but definitely hard. However, switching to online shopping can save you money. With Picodi Cashback you will be able to receive some of the money spent back through cashback.

For example, it’s a good idea to do your groceries online in Hello Fresh, buy electronics in Amazon, book your accomodation at Booking.com, buy various small things from Aliexpress and order cheaper at eBay. With Picodi you can save money every day and shorten the road to become a millionaire significantly!

Methodology and sources

The average monthly net wage data comes from Numbeo, where thousands of users worldwide monitor wages through monthly questionnaires. For currency conversion, we used the average exchange rate data from Google Finance for March 2023.

All data used in this study can be found in a chart here (↓.pdf).

Public use

Both the infographics as well as the statistical data can be used freely for commercial and non-commercial purposes. We only ask you to credit the author of the research (Picodi.com) with a link to this subpage. In case of any questions, feel free to contact us at research@picodi.com.