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As of 1 January 2025, 22 out of 27 EU countries have national minimum wages, making Denmark, Italy, Austria, Finland and Sweden the exceptions. 

In January 2025, 10 EU countries had minimum wages below €1 000 per month: Bulgaria (€551), Hungary (€707), Latvia (€740), Romania (€814), Slovakia (€816), Czechia (€826), Estonia (€886), Malta (€961), Greece (€968) and Croatia (€970).

In 6 others, minimum wages ranged from €1 000 to € 1 500 per month: Cyprus (€1 000), Portugal (€1 015), Lithuania (€1 038), Poland (€1 091), Slovenia (€1 278) and Spain (€1 381).

In the remaining 6, minimum wages were above €1 500 per month: France (€1 802), Belgium (€2 070), Germany (€2 161), the Netherlands (€2 193), Ireland (€2 282) and Luxembourg (€2 638).

Source dataset: earn_mw_cur

Smaller gaps in minimum wages once price level differences are eliminated

Data show that the highest minimum wage across EU countries was 4.8 times the lowest. However, the disparities in minimum wages across countries are considerably smaller once price level differences are taken into account. 

When expressed in purchasing power standard (PPS), minimum wages in EU countries with lower price levels become higher compared with those with higher price levels. 

After adjusting for price differences across countries, minimum wages ranged from 878 PPS per month in Estonia to 1 992 PPS in Germany, meaning that the highest minimum wage was 2.3 times the lowest. 

Minimum wage above 60% of median gross monthly earnings in France, Portugal and Slovenia 

If measured in relative terms, as a proportion of the median earnings, in 2022, minimum wages represented over 60% of the median gross monthly earnings in 3 EU countries: France, Portugal and Slovenia (66% in all countries).

At the lower end of the distribution, minimum wages were less than half of the median earnings in 4 countries: Belgium (49%), Malta (46%), Estonia and Latvia (43% in both countries). 

Minimum wages as a proportion of median gross earnings, 2022 (%, full time and part-timers included). Bar chart.

Source: earn_mw_cur and Structure of Earnings Survey 2022:  special calculation made for the purpose of this publication

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Methodological notes

  • Minimum wages are expressed in gross terms, that is before tax and social security contributions payable by the employee are deducted. 
  • Eurostat provides national minimum wages data at monthly rates. When the minimum wage is set on an hourly basis, as in Germany, France, Ireland and the Netherlands, the hourly rate was converted into monthly wages. 
  • When the minimum wage is paid for more than 12 months per year (as in Greece, Spain and Portugal, where it is paid for 14 months a year), data have been adjusted to take these payments into account.
  • Median earnings: data refer to the gross monthly earnings covering wages and salaries earned by full-time and part-time (in full-time equivalent) employees in the reference month (October 2022 in most countries). They exclude overtime pay and other extra payments and are calculated before tax and social security contributions payable by the employee are deducted. For the sake of comparability, the scope has been restricted to full timers + part-timers (converted into full-time equivalent), aged 22 years and over, working in enterprises with 10 employees and more, excluding public administration, defence and compulsory social security (classification of economic activities revision 2 (NACE Rev. 2 section O). The proportion of minimum wages to gross earnings has been calculated for Germany, France and Ireland on hourly basis. 
  • In 2022, the European Parliament and the Council adopted Directive (EU) 2022/2041 on adequate minimum wages in the EU. It aims to improve living and working conditions in the EU by establishing a framework for the adequacy of statutory minimum wages. Minimum wages are considered to be adequate if they are fair in relation to the wage distribution in the relevant EU country. This can be assessed, among other indicators, by the minimum wage to median earnings ratio. The 50%-60% band (shown in the graph as a light blue strip) is commonly used at international level, as indicative reference values, for assessing the adequacy of minimum wages in relation to the median gross earnings. 

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