Data item
New
Published: 1 September 2026
Overview of national estimates of the minimum wage as a proportion of the average wage and/or median wage, 22 Member States, latest year available
Data table
Overview of national estimates of the minimum wage as a proportion of the average wage and/or median wage, 22 Member States, latest year available
| Member State | Statutory minimum wage in relation to | Explanations on calculations and source | Is this figure used in national debates on wage setting? | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Average wage (%) | Median wage (%) | |||
| Belgium | (1) 45.4 (2024) (2) 40.7 (2022) |
(1) 49.5 (2024) (2) 44.5 (2022) |
(1) OECD (minimum wage relative to the mean/median wage of full-time workers) (2) Eurostat (monthly minimum wage as a proportion of mean gross monthly earnings) |
n.a. |
| Bulgaria | (1) 50.0 (2024) (2) 40.2 (2024) |
n.a. | (1) Gross average monthly wages and salaries of employees under labour contracts, Bulgarian National Statistical Institute (2) Monthly minimum wage as a proportion of average gross monthly wages and salaries, Bulgarian National Statistical Institute (preliminary data, including full- and part-time employees, for 2024) |
(1) As specified in the law. The minimum wage for Bulgaria is set at 50 % of the gross average wage for a 12-month period, including the last two quarters of the previous year and the first two quarters of the current year, until 1 September of the current year |
| Cyprus | 40.3 (2024) | 53.2 (2024) | Calculated by the Eurofound national correspondent, based on data from the Statistical Service of Cyprus (1) Average wage is calculated on the basis of payments made to the Social Security Fund. Employees with remuneration indicating that no regular work has been performed (for instance, people who received arrears payments only, people who worked for a limited number of hours, etc.) are not included. Earnings include basic salary, cost-of-living allowance, overtime pay, payments from the Holiday Fund and any other allowances received by the employee, such as 13th and 14th salary payments and bonuses (2) Median wage is calculated on the basis of payments made to the Social Security Fund. Employees with remuneration indicating that no regular work has been performed (for instance, people who received arrears payments only, people who worked for a limited number of hours, etc.) are not included. Earnings include basic salary, cost-of-living allowance, overtime pay, payments from the Holiday Fund and any other allowances received by the employee, such as 13th and 14th salary payments and bonuses |
No |
| Croatia | (1) 48.5 (2025) (2) 52.8 (2026) (3) 54.1 (2025) |
(1) 57.0 (2025) (2) 61.7 (2026) |
(1) 2025: Based on minimum wage for 2025 and gross average wage for July 2025 (2) 2026: Based on minimum wage for 2026 and average monthly gross wage paid to legal entities from January to July 2025 (Prosječne mjesečne neto i bruto plaće zaposlenih za srpanj 2025) (3) The figure on full-time employees from the Croatian Bureau of Statistics covers around 1.5 million employees, but does not cover those working in crafts (who total about 237 000, including employees in crafts and self-employed workers) |
Yes |
| Czechia | 43.5 (2026) | n.a. | Calculated based on the prediction of the Ministry of Finance for 2026 (official value will be known after the publication of the average wage data for 2026, expected by the first quarter of 2027) | According to the target set by the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, the Kaitz index should gradually increase. In 2024, it was 41.2 %, in 2025 approximately 42.2 % and in 2026 it should increase to approximately 43.5 %. It is to grow annually by approximately 1.2 percentage points to reach the target of 47 % in 2029 |
| Estonia | 41.4 (2024) | 51.3 (2024) | Bank of Estonia, Labour market review, 2025; Statistics Estonia, Tax and Customs Board, and Bank of Estonia calculations | The trade union confederation EAKL refers to the goodwill agreement of 2023, according to which the statutory minimum wage should be 47.5 % of the average wage in 2026. The union has not referred to exact figures or publicly available sources related to the debate |
| France | 50.4 (2024) | 62.5 (2024) | 2025 report by the Expert Group on the Minimum Wage, based on OECD data | n.a. |
| Germany | 45.5 (April 2024) | 52.8 (April 2024) | Full-time employees only | Ex post analysis by the Federal Statistical Office, reported by the German Minimum Wage Commission in 2025. Note: Preliminary figures are made available to the commission to inform its decision-making |
| Greece | 68.0 (2024) | n.a. | Daily wage based on data from EFKA, the public social security institution | Yes, for example in the assessment of the current statutory minimum wage and minimum daily wage produced by the Centre of Planning and Economic Research in January 2025 |
| 54.0 (2024) | n.a. | Workers in full-time employment with regular earnings, based on data from the ERGANI employment information system (for enterprises with more than 10 employees) | ||
| 76.0 (2024) | n.a. | Workers in full-time employment with regular earnings, based on data from the ERGANI system (for enterprises with up to 10 employees) | ||
| 39.6 (2023) | 49.5 (2023) | Foundation for Economic and Industrial Research (IOBE), based on OECD data (workers in full-time employment with regular earnings). IOBE is a research institute associated with the Hellenic Federation of Enterprises (SEV) | ||
| n.a. | 54.0 (2023) | The Labour Institute of the Greek General Confederation of Labour (INE GSEE), based on data from the OECD and AMECO (the annual macroeconomic database of the European Commission's Directorate-General for Economic and Financial Affairs), for workers in full-time employment with regular earnings | ||
| Hungary | (1) 40.6 (2024) (2) 41.6 (2024) |
(1) 51.6 (2024) | Eurofound national correspondent's calculations based on Hungarian Central Statistical Office data: (1) total gross average wage (2) regular gross monthly wage (excluding bonuses and allowances) |
The Permanent Consultation Forum of the Private Sector and the Government uses regular gross monthly wages (excluding bonuses and allowances), as these are comparable with the minimum wage (see calculation (2)) |
| Ireland | n.a. | (1) 55.0 (2024) (2) 56.6 (2025) (3) 60.0 (2025) |
(1) Two sources from the Central Statistics Office. The first is a matched Labour Force Survey dataset: data on hours worked from the Labour Force Survey are matched with quarterly wage data from tax returns made available through PMOD (the Irish Revenue's payroll modernisation system). The second is the Central Statistics Office's Structure of Earnings Survey (2) Based on Labour Force Survey data (3) Based on Structure of Earnings Survey data |
Yes, see for example the Low Pay Commission's annual report in 2025 |
| Latvia | (1) 40.3 (Q3 2025) (2) 54.3 (Q3 2025) |
(1) 49.7 (Q3 2025) | Remuneration for work: (1) before taxes (2) after taxes (taxes on the minimum wage are not taken into account) Data from the Central Statistical Bureau |
The reference value for the minimum wage is ‘set at 46 % of the gross average salary calculated by the Central Statistical Bureau for the last 12 available months’ (Regulation No 730 on procedures for determining and reviewing the minimum monthly wage, Article 2, point 2.1) |
| Lithuania | 47.7 (2026) | n.a. | Ministry of Finance projection for 2026 | Yes, as targets are set. The ratio of the minimum wage to the average wage in 2026 is to reach the midpoint of the target range (47.7 %), and in 2027 or subsequent years the ratio in Lithuania is to approach the desired level of 50 % |
| Luxembourg | (1) 35.7 (2022) (2) 50.9 excluding civil servants and 48.0 including them (2022) (3) 41.0 excluding civil servants and 39.6 including them (2022) |
(1) 46.6 (2022) (2) 65.1 excluding civil servants and 61.7 including them (2022) (3) 61.2 excluding civil servants and 58.2 including them (2022) |
(1) Workers in full-time-equivalent (FTE) terms, data from the Structure of Earnings Survey by STATEC, Luxembourg's national statistical institute (2) Administrative data from the General Inspectorate of Social Security, using basic salaries including elements such as compensation for Sunday work, night work or work on public holidays, as well as regular supplementary monthly remuneration, but not overtime, benefits in kind, bonuses or other incentives (3) Administrative data from the General Inspectorate of Social Security, using total salaries including overtime, benefits in kind, bonuses and other incentives |
n.a. |
| Malta | 44.8 (2023) | 52.5 (2023) | Eurostat Structure of Earnings Survey: gross monthly earnings data cover NACE Rev. 2 Sections B–S (industry, construction and services, except activities of households as employers and extraterritorial organisations and bodies) and full-time employees working in enterprises of all sizes | n.a. |
| Netherlands | 40.6 (2024) | 48.3 (2024) | OECD data on workers in full-time employment with regular earnings | In national debates, the relative position of the minimum wage is discussed using Statistics Netherlands earnings figures descriptively rather than with reference to a standardised benchmark ratio |
| Poland | 51.0 (2026) | n.a. | Projected average wages | Used by the government as part of the regulatory impact assessment |
| Portugal | (1) 48.0 (2023) (2) 64.0 (2024) |
(1) 68.0 (2023) (2) 84.0 (2024) |
(1) Gross monthly earnings, Eurostat; Bank of Portugal, Economic Bulletin, March 2025, p. 52 (2) Calculations by economist Eugénio Rosa, 2025, based on data from the Office for Strategy and Planning/the Quadros de Pessoal survey, which exclude public administration. The figure is based on monthly basic remuneration, which means the gross fixed monthly wage for the normal working period, as defined in the employment contract or collective agreement, including seniority payments but excluding bonuses and allowances |
Used in debates about adequacy by researchers, but not as part of wage setting |
| Romania | 46.5 (2025) | n.a. | Calculations by the Eurofound national correspondent using data from the National Commission for Strategy and Prognosis (December 2025 report). The average wage per worker is RON 8 709 (EUR 1 707.54); FTE, includes all compensation elements (basic wage, bonuses, benefits, etc.) | By all policymakers and stakeholders in Romania |
| Slovakia | 49.2 (2024) | 52.3 (2024) | Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic, ‘Priemerná mesačná mzda zamestnanca v hospodárstve SR’ for average wages and ‘Hrubá mzda a medián s ďalšími popisnými štatistickými charakteristikami’ for median wages. Kaitz index values calculated on the basis of these data by the Eurofound national correspondent | Yes, used by the government as an indicative reference value for the adequacy assessment, as per legislation |
| Slovenia | 53.3 (2024) | n.a. | Eurostat | Minimum wage increases are decided based on living costs |
| Spain | 60.0 (2025) | n.a. | Net average wage for a full-time worker; the raw source of the data, as used in the fourth report of the Expert Committee on the Minimum Wage, is the Wage Structure Survey carried out by the National Statistics Institute | 60 % of the average (net) wage is the target set by the Expert Committee on the Minimum Wage, an ad hoc body created by the government |
n.a., not available.
Source: Network of Eurofound Correspondents.
Related content
This data item featured in the following outputs.
Research report
New
1 September 2026
Minimum wage setting across the EU has become an increasingly dynamic and closely watched policy area, shaped by the transposition of the EU Minimum Wage Directive and a decade of sustained real-terms growth in statutory rates. This report examines the wage-setting discussions that took place across Member States and Norway in 2025, focusing on the countries with and without a national minimum wage, the interplay between minimum wages and collective bargaining in low-paid sectors, and the growing role of indicative reference values in shaping national decisions.
