Not All Europe is Equal: Salaries Tell the Story

An IMGlobalWealth.com News Report

Average salaries across Europe continue to vary sharply, exposing a persistent divide between the continent’s high-income economies and its lower-wage regions.

According to Euronews, using OECD Taxing Wages 2026 data, annual gross average wages across 27 European countries ranged from €18,590 in Turkey to €107,487 in Switzerland in 2025. Switzerland led the wider European ranking, followed by Iceland, Luxembourg, Denmark, the Netherlands and Norway. Among the largest European economies, Germany and the UK were far ahead of France, Italy and Spain.

Within the European Union, Eurostat’s 2024 full-time adjusted salary data gives a more complete picture of average pay across member states. The EU average stood at €39,800, up 5.2% from €37,800 in 2023. Luxembourg ranked first at about €83,000, followed by Denmark and Ireland, while Bulgaria, Greece and Hungary recorded the lowest average salaries.

“Europe’s single market may be highly integrated, but its salary ladder remains steep”

The ranking shows a clear north-western premium. Luxembourg, Denmark, Ireland, Belgium, Austria and Germany all stood above €50,000. Finland, Sweden and France also remained above the EU average. A middle group included Slovenia, Spain, Italy and Malta, with average annual salaries ranging from around €35,100 in Slovenia to €33,499 in Malta. Below that level, Lithuania, Cyprus, Estonia, Portugal and Czechia sat between roughly €24,000 and €29,000, while several eastern and south-eastern member states remained closer to or below €20,000.

The euro area follows the same pattern. Luxembourg, Ireland, Belgium, Austria and Germany remain among the higher-paying economies, while Greece, Slovakia and several southern and eastern member states sit lower in the ranking. Countries such as Spain, Italy, Slovenia and Malta occupy the middle ground, showing that the single currency has not produced a single salary reality.

These numbers are gross salary figures and do not reflect taxation, social security contributions or disposable income. They also do not fully capture purchasing power. Euronews notes that the wage gap narrows when purchasing power is considered, although the distance between Europe’s best-paid and lowest-paid workers remains substantial.

The reasons are structural. Productivity, the strength of high-value sectors, labour-market institutions, collective bargaining and cost-of-living levels all help explain why workers in Luxembourg, Denmark or Germany earn far more, on average, than those in Bulgaria, Greece or Hungary. Europe’s single market may be highly integrated, but its salary ladder remains steep.

EU salary ranking, 2024

Average annual full-time adjusted salary per employee

Note: the Netherlands is not included in this comparable Eurostat-style ranking because Eurostat flags its data as being available through a separate methodological note.