Photo: euronews.com
Hourly gross wages in the EU rise from €21.5 in 2020 to €26.2 in 2025, an increase of 21.9%. However, these figures do not take inflation into account.
Consumer prices for goods and services rose by 25.6% over the same period. As a result, aggregate real wages fell by 3%, i.e. the purchasing power of households has fallen, according to Eurostat data, to which referred to Euronews.
Leaders – outside the euro zone
Bulgaria was the absolute leader: there, real wages rose by 37.4% between 2020 and 2025. In Bulgaria, a law came into force in 2023 requiring minimum wages to be set at least 50% of the average gross wage.
Serbia (25.4%), Croatia (21.1%) and Lithuania (21.1%) also showed growth of more than 20%.
Another three countries outside the euro zone – Romania (19.7%), Hungary (18.8%) and Poland (17.8%) – also recorded real wage increases of between 15% and 20%.
Within the euro zone, a notable increase during this period was observed in Slovenia (14.4%), Latvia (10.6%) and Greece (8.6%).
In the “Big Four” EU countries, wages decreased
Real wages fell in all four of the EU’s largest economies. Italy saw the strongest decline of 9.2%, followed by Spain with 5.9%. Germany (-3.2%) and France (-3.3%) were slightly below the EU average.
From 2020 to 2025, nominal wage growth exceeded 60% in a number of countries.
The highest growth was recorded in Bulgaria (84.2 %), Hungary (82.7 %) and Romania (73.1 %). However, these countries also had very high inflation – 34.1 %, 53.7 % and 44.6 % respectively.
At the opposite pole was Italy with the weakest nominal growth of 9.5 %, followed by Malta (13.3 %) and France (14.1 %). Although inflation in these countries was below the European average, wage growth still failed to keep pace.
Hourly wage rate
In addition to the evolution of real wages, the level of wages also matters, as hourly wages vary widely across the 30 countries.
As of 2025, the lowest hourly rate is in Bulgaria, 10.5 euros, and the highest is in Luxembourg, 49.7 euros.
This means that although Bulgaria is closing the gap, there is still a significant difference in wage levels between the two countries.
Even among the largest EU economies, the pay gap is striking. In 2025, the highest gross hourly wages were in Germany (€34.5) and the lowest in Spain (€19.5).
