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 EUR1 000 per month: Bulgaria (EUR620), Latvia (EUR780), Romania (EUR795), Hungary (EUR838), Estonia (EUR886), Slovakia (EUR915), Czechia (EUR924) and Malta (EUR994). In 8 others, minimum wages ranged from EUR1 000 to EUR1 500 per month: Greece (EUR1 027), Croatia (EUR1 050), Portugal (EUR1 073), Cyprus (EUR1 088), Poland (EUR1 139), Lithuania (EUR1 153), Slovenia (EUR1 278) and Spain (EUR1 381). In the remaining 6 countries, minimum wages were above EUR1 500 per month: France (EUR1 823), Belgium (EUR2 112), the Netherlands (EUR2 295), Germany (EUR2 343), Ireland (EUR2 391) and Luxembourg (EUR2 704).
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 EU countries with lower price levels become higher compared with those with higher price levels.
After adjusting for price differences, minimum wages ranged from PPS 886 per month in Estonia to PPS 2 157 in Germany, meaning that the highest minimum wage was 2.4 times the lowest. In PPS terms, EU countries with a national minimum wage can be classified into 3 different groups:
– minimum wages above PPS 1 500 per month: Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Belgium, Ireland, France, Poland and Spain.
– minimum wages ranging between PPS 1 000 and PPS 1 500 per month: Slovenia, Lithuania, Croatia, Romania, Portugal, Greece, Cyprus, Hungary, Malta, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Czechia.
-minimum wages below PPS 1 000 per month: Latvia and Estonia.
Compared with January 2025, 3 countries have changed groups in 2026: the minimum wages applicable in Slovakia, Bulgaria and Czechia are now over PPS 1 000 per month.
In Romania, the national minimum gross wage will increase to RON4,325 (EUR848) per month starting with July 1, 2026 from the current level of RON4,050 (EUR794) per month.