(23 February 2018) – Monthly minimum wages are generally below €500 in the east and well above €1 000 in the northwest of the European Union.
22 out of the 28 Member States of the EU have national minimum wages: only Denmark, Italy, Cyprus, Austria, Finland and Sweden do not have any. The 22 EU Member States that have national minimum wages can be divided into three main groups based on the level in euro.
In January 2018, Bulgaria had the lowest gross minimum wage (€261) across the EU. Nine Member States, all also located in the east of the EU, followed with minimum wages between €400 and around €500 per month: Lithuania (€400), Romania (€408), Latvia (€430), Hungary (€445), Croatia (€462), the Czech Republic (€478), Slovakia (€480), Estonia (€500) and Poland (€503).
In five other Member States, located in the south of the EU, minimum wages ranged between €600 and €900 per month: Portugal (€677), Greece (€684), Malta (€748), Slovenia (€843) and Spain (€859).
In the remaining seven Member States, all located in the west and north of the EU, minimum wages were above €1 400 per month: the United Kingdom (€1 401), Germany and France (both €1 498), Belgium (€1 563), the Netherlands (€1 578), Ireland (€1 614) and Luxembourg (€1 999).
For comparison, the federal minimum wage in the United States was €1 048 per month in January 2018.