The rankings for minimum wages shift significantly when adjusted for purchasing power across several European countries as of July 2026. High inflation hits minimum wage earners hardest where wages are updated only once a year.
Minimum wages for the second half of 2026 have been released by Eurostat, showing that only eight of 29 European countries increased their gross minimum wage between January and July 2026, while consumer inflation in the euro area was 3.2% over the same six-month period. That means minimum wage earners lost ground in real terms in several countries where inflation was particularly high.
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So, which European countries pay the highest minimum wages based on the latest data? And how does the ranking change when adjusted for purchasing power?
In nominal terms, Luxembourg has the highest gross monthly minimum wage in Europe as of July 2026, at €2,771. Within the EU, the minimum wage is lowest in Bulgaria, at €620. When EU candidate countries are included, Ukraine has the lowest minimum wage, at €169.
Looking at the distribution of minimum wage levels, five countries have a gross monthly minimum wage above €2,000. Nine countries fall between €1,000 and €2,000, although the range is heavily concentrated towards the lower end, with only one country above €1,500.
In 15 countries, the gross monthly minimum wage is below €1,000, meaning that more than half of the countries with available data fall into this group. However, seven of these are EU candidate countries.
Five countries have minimum wages above €2,000 a month
In addition to Luxembourg, the top group includes Ireland (€2,391), Germany (€2,343), the Netherlands (€2,338) and Belgium (€2,234). France is close behind at €1,867.
Slovenia (€1,482), Spain (€1,425), Lithuania (€1,153), Poland (€1,119), Cyprus (€1,088), Greece (€1,073), Portugal (€1,073) and Croatia (€1,050) make up the middle group. Most of them are closer to €1,000 than €1,500.
At the bottom, Ukraine and Moldova stand out as outliers at €169 and €313 respectively, with all other countries above the €500 level.
Four candidate countries have higher minimum wages than Bulgaria. They are Turkey (€621), North Macedonia (€624), Montenegro (€670) and Serbia (€743).
Malta (€994), Estonia (€946), Czechia (€923), Slovakia (€915) and Hungary (€906) are all closer to the €1,000 level.
Changes in minimum wage rankings by purchasing power
The rankings based on purchasing power standards (PPS) differ significantly from those based on nominal terms in several countries. The gap between countries is also narrower.
PPS provides a fairer comparison through an artificial currency that captures what people can genuinely afford in each country. In theory, one PPS can buy the same amount of goods and services in every country.
In PPS terms, minimum wages range from 705 in Albania to 2,164 in Germany. No data are available for Ukraine and Moldova, while the figure for Turkey reflects July 2025.
Luxembourg (2,108 PPS), the Netherlands (2,023), Belgium (1,922) and Ireland (1,756) round out the top five.
France, Slovenia, Spain and Poland also have minimum wages above 1,500 PPS.
Estonia has the lowest minimum wage in purchasing power terms within the EU, at 935 PPS, closely followed by Latvia (938 PPS).
Turkey and Bulgaria are also below 1,000 PPS.
Some EU candidate countries rank higher than several EU countries in PPS terms. North Macedonia (1,142 PPS) and Serbia (1,094 PPS) both outperform seven EU countries, including Malta, Slovakia, Hungary and Czechia.
Romania and North Macedonia biggest winners
When the rankings in nominal terms and PPS are compared across the 27 countries, the biggest winners are Romania and North Macedonia. Romania rises from 20th to 12th, while North Macedonia climbs from 24th to 16th, with both gaining eight places.
Serbia (up five places), Croatia and Bulgaria (both up three places) also show significant rises in the PPS rankings.
The biggest loser is Estonia, which falls from 16th to 26th, while Latvia, Czechia and Cyprus also lose four places.
Only eight countries recorded increases
Among the 29 countries, eight recorded increases in minimum wages in local currencies, in nominal terms, between January and July 2026. They were North Macedonia (6.9%), Romania (6.8%), Estonia (6.8%), Belgium (5.8%), Greece (4.5%), Luxembourg (2.5%), France (2.4%) and the Netherlands (1.9%).
In all other countries, wages remained unchanged. This particularly affected countries where inflation was high. Eurostat estimates inflation in the euro area at 3.2% between January and July. It reached 8.2% in Malta, 5.4% in Cyprus and 4.7% in the Netherlands.
High inflation hits minimum wage earners in Turkey
Turkey, which has the highest inflation rate in Europe and around the fifth-highest globally, saw inflation between December 2025 and June 2026 reach 17.8%. Since Turkey now updates the minimum wage only once a year, minimum wage earners are losing purchasing power significantly. Turkey is also an outlier, with the highest share of minimum wage earners, at close to 40%.
However, Turkey has significantly raised the minimum wage in recent years.
Five EU countries do not have a statutory minimum wage. They are Italy, Denmark, Sweden, Austria and Finland.
