(05 February 2021) – Across the 21 Member States concerned, the highest minimum wage in the EU is 6.6 times higher than the lowest.
21 out of the 27 Member States of the EU have national minimum wages: only Denmark, Italy, Cyprus, Austria, Finland and Sweden do not. The 21 EU Member States that have national minimum wages can be divided into three main groups.
In January 2021, ten Member States, located in the east of the EU, had minimum wages below €700 per month: Bulgaria (€332), Hungary (€442), Romania (€458), Latvia (€500), Croatia (€563), Czechia (€579), Estonia (€584), Poland (€614), Slovakia (€623) and Lithuania (€642).
In five other Member States, located mainly in the south of the EU, minimum wages ranged between €700 and just over €1 100 per month: Greece (€758), Portugal (€776), Malta (€785), Slovenia (€1 024) and Spain (€1 108).
In the remaining six Member States, all located in the west and north of the EU, minimum wages were above €1 500 per month: France (€1 555), Germany (€1 614), Belgium (€1 626), the Netherlands (€1 685), Ireland (€1 724) and Luxembourg (€2 202).
For comparison, the federal minimum wage in the United States was €1 024 in January 2021.