Minimum Wage in Cyprus (2026)

Key numbers at a glance

Cyprus operated occupational minimum wage orders for decades before legislating a national floor in 2023; the 2026 rate is €1,088. Figures below are gross, per Eurostat (earn_mw_cur), the Ministry of Labour and Eurofound. The unweighted average of the 22 EU national minimums is about €1,379 a month in mid-2026, so Cyprus’s rate sits roughly 21% below that benchmark.

Minimum wage in Cyprus: the rate

The Cabinet sets the national minimum wage by decision after Labour Ministry and social partner consultation, with uprating usually announced in the state budget cycle. The design is unusual in two ways. First, the entry discount: employers may pay 90% of the full rate (€979 in 2026) during a worker's first six months in a job — a deliberate concession to small-business hiring concerns. Second, scope: the national rate covers private-sector employees generally, while existing occupational orders (for shop assistants, clerks, child-care and personal-care workers, security guards, cleaners) were folded in or continue as specific floors that must not fall below the national minimum. On top of the basic wage, the Cost of Living Allowance (COLA / ATA) is paid semi-annually as an inflation adjustment across collective agreements and many contracts, adding several percentage points in high-inflation years.

Cyprus legislated its first national minimum wage in 2022, effective 2023, at €885 with a €797 entry rate — a structural shift after decades of relying on occupational orders covering roughly a third of the workforce. The path since: €940 (2024, entry €846), €1,000 (2025, entry €900) and €1,088 (2026, entry €979). The 2026 increase (+8.8%) tracks the tight Cypriot labour market, where hospitality, retail and construction compete for workers, and post-2022 wage settlements ran high. Cyprus's eurozone membership means the euro figures are direct; there is no conversion risk in the comparison tables.

The rate is gross and monthly; the standard working week used for the comparison is around 40–44 hours depending on the applicable agreement, and Eurostat normalises to its common basis. Enforcement sits with the Department of Labour Relations and the Labour Inspectorate; underpayment claims can be filed with the district labour offices and arrears are recoverable. Thirteenth-salary practice is widespread in Cyprus but distinct from the statutory minimum. There are no youth sub-rates; the only reduced rate is the six-month entry discount, and using it beyond six months is a violation. Domestic workers fall under separate provisions with their own negotiated scales.

Youth and trainee rates. No age-based youth rate. The only lawful reduction is the first-six-months entry rate of €979 — after six months with the same employer, €1,088 applies regardless of age.

How Cyprus compares

In euro terms, Cyprus's statutory minimum is €1,088 a month gross. Cyprus sits in Eurostat's middle band (€1,000–1,500 a month). The table below sets the rate against neighbouring systems, the EU's highest and lowest statutory floors, and the EU average of roughly €1,379 (unweighted mean of the 22 national rates, Eurostat data for mid-2026).

The comparison to hold on to: Luxembourg tops the statutory table at €2,771 and Bulgaria closes it at €620 — a 4.5-to-1 spread that has been narrowing slowly as the east converges. Cyprus's position relative to that spread defines both its wage-cost competitiveness and its workers' purchasing power.

Purchasing power. Cyprus's real minimum wage position is solidly mid-table: Cypriot price levels sit near the euro-area average, so €1,088 buys close to what the nominal figure suggests — above the Baltics and the CEE-4, below the western cluster, per Eurostat's mid-2026 PPS comparison.

Where to verify the current rate

• Eurostat, Monthly minimum wages (earn_mw_cur)
• Ministry of Labour and Social Insurance of Cyprus
• Eurofound — minimum wage in Cyprus

Neighbouring countries and related pages

Wage floors change at every border. Compare Cyprus with Greece and Malta — the full list of 30 country pages is on the by-country hub, and the pan-European tables are in our minimum wage comparison.