On 1 January 2026, 22 out of 27 EU countries had national minimum wages, all except Denmark, Italy, Austria, Finland and Sweden.
Of these countries, 8 had minimum wages below €1 000 per month: Bulgaria (€620), Latvia (€780), Romania (€795), Hungary (€838), Estonia (€886), Slovakia (€915), Czechia (€924) and Malta (€994).
In 8 others, minimum wages ranged from €1 000 to € 1 500 per month: Greece (€1 027), Croatia (€1 050), Portugal (€1 073), Cyprus (€1 088), Poland (€1 139), Lithuania (€1 153), Slovenia (€1 278) and Spain (€1 381).
In the remaining 6 countries, minimum wages were above €1 500 per month: France (€1 823), Belgium (€2 112), the Netherlands (€2 295), Germany (€2 343), Ireland (€2 391) and Luxembourg (€2 704).
Smaller gaps once price level differences are eliminated
Data show that the highest minimum wage across EU countries was 4.4 times higher than 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 (....)