Minimum wages in Europe: How does your country compare in 2025?

January 31, 2025

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Minimum wages rose faster than inflation in most EU member states and candidate countries, leading to real wage growth across the region. Euronews Business examines these changes.

Living standards for minimum wage workers vary significantly across Europe. As of January 2025, the monthly gross minimum wage is below €1,000 in ten out of 22 EU countries.

While the gap narrows when adjusted for purchasing power standards (PPS), significant disparities remain. For example, the minimum wage in Germany is more than twice as high as in Bulgaria in PPS terms.

So, how much do minimum wage earners make across Europe? Which countries have the highest and lowest minimum wages? And how do the rankings change when comparing nominal wages versus PPS?

According to Eurostat, as of January 2025, gross monthly minimum wages in the EU range from €551 in Bulgaria to €2,638 in Luxembourg. When candidate countries are included, Moldova has the lowest minimum wage at €285.

22 out of 27 EU Member States have a national minimum wage, while Denmark, Italy, Austria, Finland, and Sweden do not. Therefore, this comparison focuses on these 22 countries along with candidate countries where data is available.

Eurostat mainly examines minimum wage ranges in three categories:

Group 1: Above €1,500 per month

This group includes: Luxembourg (€2,638), Ireland (€2,282), the Netherlands (€2,193), Germany (€2,161), Belgium (€2,070) and France (€1,802).

Since Belgium did not raise its minimum wage, Germany surpassed it. While this group includes countries with minimum wages above €1,500, only France remains below €2,000. All others exceed this threshold, indicating that these countries are widening the gap. The closest follower, Spain, stands at €1,323, though its updated figure has yet to be announced.

Group 2: Between €1,000 and €,1 500

Spain (€1,323), Slovenia (€1,254), Poland (€1,091), Lithuania (€1,038), Portugal (€1,015), and Cyprus (€1,000) make up the “medium” wage group. In July 2024, this group included only two countries, but with recent minimum wage increases, it has now expanded significantly.

Group 3: Below €1,000

This is the largest group, comprising 10 EU member states and all candidate countries. Among them, Croatia (€970), Greece (€968), Malta (€961), Estonia (€886), Czechia (€826), Slovakia (€816), and Romania (€814) are relatively better positioned, with minimum wages exceeding €800.

Among the candidate countries, Turkey has the highest minimum wage at €708, surpassing two EU member states—Hungary (€707) and Bulgaria (€551).

Gap narrows in PPS terms

In nominal terms, a minimum wage worker in Luxembourg—the EU country with the highest salary—earns almost five times (4.8) the minimum wage of a worker in Bulgaria, which has the lowest.

In PPS terms, this gap narrows to 2.3 times, but the countries in comparison change—with Germany (1,992) having the highest minimum wage and Estonia (878) the lowest.

PPS allows for a fairer comparison, as it is an artificial currency unit that reflects equal purchasing power across countries. In theory, one PPS can buy the same amount of goods and services in any country.

Comparing nominal and PPS rankings, Romania jumps from 17th to 9th place, while Montenegro rises from 18th to 12th, indicating their stronger purchasing power despite lower nominal wages.

Hungary, Serbia, and Bulgaria also achieve better positions in PPS.

On the contrary, Ireland drops from 2nd to 5th, and Estonia experiences a steep decline from 14th to 21st. This suggests that their nominal wages do not translate into equally strong purchasing power due to higher living costs.

Inflation vs increase in minimum wages

Among the 24 countries with available data, four experienced a decline in real terms. This assessment is based on a comparison between annual inflation (from December 2023 to December 2024) and minimum wage increases (from January 2024 to January 2025) in local currencies.

Minimum wage earners in Turkey suffer the most. While the annual inflation was 44.4% in Turkey, the minimum wage rose by 30%. Other countries with decline in real terms are Cyprus, Albania and Belgium but they are very slightly.

Montenegro recorded the highest real-term growth in the minimum wage, with a nominal increase of 25.9%, while inflation stood at just 2.6%. This resulted in a substantial rise in purchasing power.

In terms of real wage growth, Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia, and Lithuania also saw notable increases, following Montenegro’s lead.

The impact of Minimum Wage Directive on increases

The EU’s new Minimum Wage Directive aims to set an international level such as 60% of the gross median wage for the minimum wage. This ratio was above 60% in only three EU countries in 2022. The goal is to ensure a decent standard of living by setting statutory minimum wages at an adequate level to meet workers’ basic needs.

Christine Aumayr-Pintar and Carlos Vacas-Soriano from Eurofound noted in their blog that the EU Minimum Wage Directive has influenced national minimum wage increases in several countries.

“The directive may play a role in driving substantial increases to minimum wages from now on,” they added.

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