Romania overtakes Latvia in EU’s minimum wage rankings

Romania has now the third-lowest minimum wage among the European Union member states that have minimum wages, according to Eurostat.

Following the latest increase decided by the government, Romania has now a minimum gross wage of EUR 446, overtaking Latvia (EUR 430).

Romania’s gross minimum wage rose from RON 1,900 to RON 2,080 from January 1, 2019, a 9.5 percent increase.

In January 2019, Bulgaria had the lowest gross minimum wage (EUR 286) across the EU.

Ten member states, all located in the east of the EU, have minimum wages below EUR 600 per month: Bulgaria, Latvia, Romania, Hungary (EUR 464), Croatia (EUR 506), Czechia (EUR 519), Slovakia (EUR 520), Poland (EUR 523), Estonia (EUR 540) and Lithuania (EUR 555).

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In five other Member States, located in the south of the EU, minimum wages ranged between EUR 650 and just over EUR 1,000 per month: Greece (EUR 684), Portugal (EUR 700), Malta (EUR 762), Slovenia (EUR 887) and Spain (EUR 1,050).

In the remaining seven member states, all located in the west and north of the EU, minimum wages were above EUR 1,450 per month: the United Kingdom (EUR 1,453), France (EUR 1,521), Germany (EUR 1,557), Belgium (EUR 1,594), the Netherlands (EUR 1,616), Ireland (EUR 1,656) and Luxembourg (EUR 2,071).

Denmark, Italy, Cyprus, Austria, Finland and Sweden do not have minimum wages.

For comparison, the federal minimum wage in the United States was EUR 1,098 per month in January 2019.