Minimum Wage Comparison Across Europe (2026)
Every European minimum wage on one set of tables: the 22 EU statutory rates ranked and set against the EU average of about €1,379 a month, the official hourly rates where they exist, the purchasing-power league that reorders the nominal one, and the collective-agreement countries that have no statutory rate to rank at all.
By the MinWage Europe editorial team · Updated $1
Key numbers at a glance
| Comparison (mid-2026, gross) | Highest | EU average | Lowest |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly statutory minimum wage | €2,771 (Luxembourg) | ≈€1,379 (22 rates) | €620 (Bulgaria) |
All figures are gross monthly rates in force in mid-2026, verified against Eurostat's earn_mw_cur table and Eurofound's 2026 compilation. Where a country sets an hourly rate (Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, France, the UK), the hourly figure is the legal unit and the monthly amount is the full-time equivalent. The 14-payment systems are annualised to twelve months. The percentage column compares each rate with the unweighted average of all 22.
The full statutory ranking
| Country | Monthly gross (EUR) | Official hourly rate | Vs EU average | In force since |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Luxembourg | €2,771 | — | +101% | 1 January 2026, revalued mid-2026 |
| Ireland | €2,391 | €14.15 | +73% | 1 January 2026 |
| Germany | €2,343 | €13.90 | +70% | 1 January 2026 |
| the Netherlands | €2,338 | €14.99 | +70% | 1 January and 1 July 2026 |
| Belgium | €2,234 | — | +62% | 1 January 2026, indexed April 2026 and again mid-2026 |
| France | €1,867 | €12.31 | +35% | 1 January 2026 (revalued during 2026) |
| Slovenia | €1,482 | — | +7% | 1 January 2026 |
| Spain | €1,425 | — | +3% | January 2026, agreed and backdated in February 2026 |
| Lithuania | €1,153 | — | −16% | 1 January 2026 |
| Poland | ≈€1,119 | — | −19% | 1 January 2026 |
| Cyprus | €1,088 | — | −21% | 1 January 2026 |
| Greece | €1,073 | — | −22% | 1 April 2026 |
| Portugal | €1,073 | — | −22% | 1 January 2026 |
| Croatia | €1,050 | — | −24% | 1 January 2026 |
| Malta | €994 | — | −28% | 2026 Budget measures (January 2026) |
| Estonia | €946 | — | −31% | 2026 agreement (in force during 2026) |
| Czechia | ≈€923 | — | −33% | 1 January 2026 |
| Slovakia | €915 | — | −34% | 1 January 2026 |
| Hungary | ≈€906 | — | −34% | 1 January 2026 |
| Romania | ≈€850 | — | −38% | 1 July 2026 |
| Latvia | €780 | — | −43% | 1 January 2026 |
| Bulgaria | €620 | — | −55% | 1 January 2026 |
Three structural notes for reading the table. First, indexation countries move mid-year: Belgium rose from €2,112 in January to about €2,234 by July, France from €1,823 to €1,867, and the January figures for all three understate the year's end level. Second, the euro figures for Poland, Hungary, Romania and Czechia are conversions of złoty, forint, leu and koruna rates — exchange-rate moves shift their ranking between Eurostat's half-yearly snapshots. Third, Lithuania's €1,153 is already superseded in one direction: the social partners agreed €1,245 for 2027.
How the UK, Norway and Switzerland compare
| Country | System | Rate for 2026 | Full-time monthly equivalent |
|---|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | Statutory hourly, age-tiered | £12.71/hr at 21+ (£10.85 at 18–20) from April 2026 | ≈€2,450 (est., 37.5-hour week) |
| Norway | No statutory rate; nine generalised industries | NOK 215–224/hr construction unskilled | ≈€3,000–3,200 in covered industries |
| Switzerland | No national rate; five cantonal minimums | CHF 24.59/hr Geneva; CHF 20.00–22.20 elsewhere | ≈€3,700–4,800 where cantonal floors apply |
The UK slots inside Europe's top band, between Ireland and Germany. Norway's generalised floors pay like Luxembourg's statutory rate. Switzerland's cantonal floors — where they exist — are simply the highest wage floors on the continent; the catch is that most of the country has no statutory floor at all.
The collective-agreement countries
Five EU members never appear in the statutory ranking because they have no national rate. Their indicative effective floors, for an honest like-for-like read:
| Country | Typical lowest agreed level (2026) | Approximate full-time month |
|---|---|---|
| Austria | ≈€2,090 × 14 payments | ≈€2,440 annualised |
| Denmark | DKK 136–147/hr | ≈€3,200–3,500 |
| Finland | €1,842–2,061/month | €1,842–2,061 |
| Sweden | SEK 115–130/hr | ≈€1,700–1,900 |
| Italy | €7–9/hr bottom CCNL levels | ≈€1,300–1,600 |
Read as a league, the collective systems outperform most statutory ones — Austria's binding agreements deliver a de facto floor near Belgium's, Denmark's agreements pay above every statutory rate except Luxembourg's. Italy is the exception that fuels the EU's minimum-wage debate: its lowest contract levels sit below Slovenia's statutory rate.
Purchasing power: nominal vs real
| Rank (PPS, mid-2026) | Country | Nominal (EUR) | Real (PPS) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Germany | €2,343 | 2,164 |
| 2 | Luxembourg | €2,771 | 2,108 |
| 3 | Netherlands | €2,338 | 2,023 |
| 4 | Belgium | ≈€2,234 | 1,922 |
| 5 | Ireland | €2,391 | 1,756 |
| … | Poland / Slovenia / Spain / France | €1,119 / €1,482 / €1,425 / €1,867 | all above 1,500 |
| 21 | Latvia | €780 | 938 |
| 22 | Estonia | €946 | 935 |
The PPS table is the one to use for cost-of-living comparisons — Poland's nominal rate is 48% of Germany's, but its real rate is close to 70% of Germany's; Ireland outranks Belgium nominally but trails it in real terms. Estonia's ninth-place nominal rate falls to last on the real measure, a gap its 2026 agreement only dented.
FAQ
What is the highest minimum wage in Europe in 2026?
Luxembourg: €2,771 gross a month in mid-2026 (€2,703.74 from January, indexed upward during the year), with a 20% higher floor of about €3,325 for skilled workers. In purchasing power, Germany (2,164 PPS) led Luxembourg (2,108 PPS) in mid-2026.
What is the lowest minimum wage in the EU in 2026?
Bulgaria: €620.20 gross a month (BGN 1,213) from January 2026. Latvia is second-lowest at €780. Outside the statutory table, none of the collective-agreement countries has a lower effective floor — even Sweden's lowest agreed steps (≈€10 an hour) exceed Bulgaria's hourly equivalent.
How many times bigger is the highest EU minimum wage than the lowest?
About 4.5 times in mid-2026 (€2,771 vs €620), per Eurostat — down from ratios above 6 in the mid-2010s, as the eastern members converge. In purchasing power the ratio compresses to roughly 2.5 times.
Which European minimum wage is worth the most in real terms?
Germany's, on Eurostat's mid-2026 purchasing-power comparison (2,164 PPS), ahead of Luxembourg (2,108), the Netherlands (2,023) and Belgium (1,922). Poland and Slovenia are the overperformers of the middle band; Estonia (935 PPS) and Latvia (938 PPS) sit lowest.
How does the UK minimum wage compare with the EU in 2026?
The UK National Living Wage of £12.71 an hour (from April 2026) converts to roughly €14.3 — between Ireland's €14.15 and Germany's €13.90 hourly rates, and about 78% above the ≈€1,379 unweighted EU monthly average on a full-time-equivalent basis.
Which countries have no statutory minimum wage to compare?
Denmark, Italy, Austria, Finland and Sweden in the EU; Norway and Switzerland outside it. Their effective floors come from collective agreements (or Swiss cantonal law) and are compared as indicative bands rather than single legal rates — see each country page.