Victoria 3: Income and Wealth

One of the great ways to lead your country and nation is to keep your economy high. It is very important to control your country’s economy because it is what gives wealth to your pops.

In this guide, we’ll tell you about Income and Wealth in Victoria 3.

Income

To understand the economy and the incoming income, it is important to understand the different categories of pops which is your population. They are grouped together based on their type and further their culture, faith, location, and place of employment, with the standard of living, accumulated wealth, and income of your people tracked along the lines of these groupings.

The Workforce is the part of the pop group that is able to work taking on jobs to generate the bulk of the pop group’s income. Dependents are families of these workers who are not able to work for one reason or another. Dependents are still able to generate some amount of income but they do so for specific pop types and at a fraction of what somebody in the workforce earns. Between the workforce and dependents, you’ll see the income of a few different kinds further influenced by the pop type and wealth level. Interest is generated as income for people who have lent money to the government which is you. This form of income really only comes up when your nation has used up all of its gold reserves and relying on loans from the populace to stay afloat. The Subsistence output, wages, and dividends are the three forms of income that the workforce generates that you’ll have more direct control over right from the start of your game.

Each building in Victoria 3 employs multiple different types of pops. The types are determined by the building itself and the production methods you’ve set it to use. By building specific buildings and setting their production methods in specific ways, you can have a direct influence over which people get job opportunities and how wealth is distributed in your nation. While military and government employees have their wages determined by their own policies in the Budget screen, private sector employees receive wages based on how well their employing building is performing and their role at the building.

Owners of the building as determined by the ownership production method will receive dividends when the building has a positive weekly balance. Beyond that, both they and the other employees of the building will receive wages proportional to their pop type and how profitable the building is. A building able to sell its products at higher prices will provide higher wages and generate more income through dividends for its owners as well. Meanwhile, if a building is struggling to maintain a full workforce as a result of low productivity which in turn reduces profitability, you’ll have to provide government subsidies to it. This helps the business cover its costs so that wages still get paid.

Subsistence Output comes from Subsistence Farms on unused Arable Land which provides an additional form of income. Subsistence output is generated through the sale of products directly by the peasants working the farms.

The income your population makes determines their social, political, economic, and geographical mobility, but it also impacts the expenses they might have to take on. Depending on your policies, laws, and budget settings, your populace will likely have to pay a variety of types of taxes. A consumption tax can be applied to a variety of products to make them more expensive to purchase while generating income for the government. Dividend taxes, income taxes, poll taxes, land taxes, and per capita taxes are only applied if suitable laws have been enacted. The actual tax you collect from your population is collected at a per-state level and each state will have a taxation capacity that represents its ability to efficiently tax the people living within. Each point of taxation capacity means the state can effectively tax 10,000 people. You can build government administration buildings to increase taxation capacity at a per-state level using alternative production methods to further increase taxation capacity.

Wealth

One of the major impacts of income kicks in when it is higher than a particular pop group’s expenses by a significant margin. As the surplus income accumulates, you’ll see the pop group make progress towards the next wealth level higher up. On the other side, if the income is lower than expenses and there is a deficit net income, you’ll see progress towards the next wealth level lower down.

Wealth level is the biggest determining factor in a pop group’s standard of living and each pop group has an expectation for the lowest their standard of living should be. Going below that level might trigger significant unrest, radicalization, and revolution, especially if the pop group is politically influential. Even above the minimum, shifts in the standard of living will make radicals or loyalists out of members of the pop group, depending on if the standard of living shifted down or up. A higher standard of living will encourage growth rates and the likelihood of immigration for the pop group into your nation.

The wealth level of a pop group will also determine its access to education and a higher literacy rate increases your research rates and allows pops to transition to specific types that have prerequisite literacy rates as well. Wealth has a direct influence on the political strength a pop might have which in turn impacts the kinds of policies you’ll be able to enact.