Albania has Europe’s lowest minimum wage

Albania has Europe’s lowest minimum wage
/ Eurostat
By bne IntelliNews February 7, 2021

Albania has the lowest minimum wage in Europe, at just €242.52 equivalent, according to data compiled by Eurostat. 

Minimum wages were considerably lower in the four Western Balkan states that have set minimum wages (Albania, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia) than in most EU member states. 

There are also significant variations within the EU, where they ranged from €332 per month in Bulgaria to €2,202 per month in Luxembourg.

All the newer EU member states from Central and Southeast Europe had relatively low minimum wages at up to €700, except for the region’s richest state, Slovenia. 

However, the data revealed a catch-up process in the eastern EU members; the average annual rate of change in the minimum wage between January 2011 and January 2021 was highest in Romania (+11.3 %), followed by Lithuania (+10.7 %) and Bulgaria (+10.4 %), with strong increases also recorded in Estonia (+7.7 %), Slovakia (+7.0 %) and Czechia (+6.1 %). 

Albania remained the European country with the lowest minimum wage when adjusted for purchasing power parities (PPPs) for household final consumption expenditure, although in general the adjustment reduced differences across countries. 

As of January 1, the highest minimum wage was almost seven times as high as the lowest one, but when adjusted for purchasing power the highest minimum wage under three times as high as the lowest one. 

Data

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