The ranking of minimum wages changes significantly when adjusted for purchasing power, Albania results last among European countries in terms of purchasing power according to Eurostat data for July 2026
There has been talk of increasing wages, but high inflation has hit Albania hardest, as Albanians have the lowest purchasing power in the region and Europe. minimum wage and those who earn up to the average wage
Minimum wages for the second half of 2026, published by Eurostat, show that only eight of the 29 European countries increased their gross minimum wage between January and July 2026, while inflation in the euro area was 3.2% over the same six-month period. This means that minimum wage earners lost ground in real terms in some countries where inflation was particularly high.
In nominal terms, Luxembourg has the highest gross monthly minimum wage in Europe as of July 2026, at 2,771 euros. Within the EU, the minimum wage is lowest in Bulgaria, at 620 euros. When EU candidate countries are included, Ukraine has the lowest minimum wage, at 169 euros. Moldova (313) and Albania (531) are the other two countries with the lowest minimum wages in Europe.
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 euros, 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 euros per month:
In addition to Luxembourg, the first group includes Ireland (€2,391), Germany (€2,343), the Netherlands (€2,338) and Belgium (€2,234). France is very close with €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.
Changes in the ranking of minimum wages according to purchasing power
Rankings based on purchasing power standards (PPS) differ significantly from those based on nominal terms in some countries. The gap between countries is also narrower.
The PPP provides a fairer comparison through an artificial currency that measures what people can realistically afford in each country. In theory, a PPP can buy the same amount of goods and services in each country.
According to the PPS, minimum wages range from 705 in Albania (lowest) to 2,164 in Germany (highest). No data is 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) complete the top five.
Estonia has the lowest minimum wage in purchasing power terms within the EU, at 935 PPS, followed by Latvia (938 PPS).
Turkey and Bulgaria are also below 1,000 PPS.
Several EU candidate countries rank higher than some EU countries in terms of PPS. North Macedonia (1,142 PPS) and Serbia (1,094 PPS) outperform seven EU countries, including Malta, Slovakia, Hungary and the Czech Republic.
When comparing the rankings in nominal and PPS terms across the 27 countries, the biggest gainers are Romania and North Macedonia. Romania moves up from 20th to 12th, while North Macedonia moves up from 24th to 16th, both gaining eight places.
Serbia (up five places), Croatia and Bulgaria (both up three places) also show significant increases in the PPS rankings.
The biggest loser is Estonia, which falls from 16th to 26th place, while Latvia, the Czech Republic and Cyprus also lose four places. Albania was last and despite wages having increased in the last two or three years it has remained last in Europe because prices have increased more, leading to a significant decline in purchasing power./ Mapo.al