Have you ever wondered which countries in Europe pay the best? Or how your salary compares to others in the EU?

There are various indicators for comparing wages and salaries, but one particularly useful metric is Eurostat’s new calculation: the average annual full-time adjusted salary per employee. This is estimated using the average annual gross salary for full-time work.

According to Eurostat, in 2023,the average annual full-time adjusted salary per employee ranged from €13,503 in Bulgaria to €81,064 in Luxembourg, with the EU average at €37,863.

Where are the best salaries?

In nine EU member countries, salaries are above the EU average, while 17 countries are below. The Netherlands is not included in the data due to differences in methodology, as reported by Euronews.

In addition to Luxembourg, five countries have adjusted average salaries above €50,000: Denmark (€67,604), Ireland (€58,679), Belgium (€57,989), Austria (€54,508) and Germany (€50,988). Finland, Sweden and France were also above the EU average.

At the lower end of the scale is Bulgaria, followed by Hungary (€16,895), Greece (€17,013), Romania (€17,739), Poland (€18,054) and Slovakia (€19,001) with annual salaries below €20,000.

How does Croatia compare?

Italy and Spain are below the EU average with annual salaries of around €32,500. Croatia is in the lower half of the ranking with an average annual salary of €21,523. Neighbouring Slovenia is nine places ahead with an average annual salary of €33,081.

As the cost of living varies from country to country, it is important to consider the purchasing power standard (PPS). If the annual salaries are adjusted for the PPS, the differences compared to the nominal figures become smaller. Nevertheless, there are still considerable inequalities in the EU.

The average adjusted annual salary for full-time employees, measured in PPS, ranged from 20,525 in Greece to 53,745 in Luxembourg. In nominal terms, Greece is in third place, but performs worst in PPS terms.

Only seven countries were above the EU average for this indicator: Luxembourg, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Austria, Ireland and France.

How did average salaries change from 2022 to 2023?

Among the 26 EU countries, the average adjusted annual salary for full-time employees only fell in Sweden between 2022 and 2023. In Sweden, the average salary fell by € 1,817, which corresponds to a decrease of 4 %. However, this decrease is due to the conversion of the Swedish krona into euros; in local currency, salaries increased slightly. In the EU as a whole, salaries rose by €2,225 or 6%.

In nominal terms, salaries rose the most in Luxembourg, Belgium and Ireland, with increases of more than €4,000 in each of these countries. In Malta, Greece and Italy, on the other hand, average salaries rose by less than €1,000.

Looking at the percentage changes, the largest increases were recorded in Romania, Hungary, Poland, Latvia and Croatia, where average salaries rose by more than 15%.

In Malta, Italy, Greece, Denmark, Finland and Cyprus, on the other hand, the increases were less than 5.