Highest and Lowest Paid Countries in the EU, Ranked: All 27 in Six Tests (2026 Edition)

Which EU countries pay the most, and the least? All 27, six tests of pay, Eurostat's latest data. Take-home pay (single worker on the average wage, 2025, annual ÷ 12): Luxembourg €4,656, Romania €1,156 a month. Typical income (median equivalised disposable income, PPS, 2025, ÷ 12): Luxembourg 3,139, Hungary 997. Tax wedge on a low wage (67% of the average, 2025): Germany 44.7%, Ireland 22.5%. Usual weekly hours (2025): Greece 41.0, the Netherlands 31.5. Workers at risk of poverty (2025): Bulgaria 11.8%, Finland 3.1%. Unadjusted gender pay gap (2024, mostly provisional): Estonia 18.8%, Luxembourg -0.8%. The verdict counts best-three and worst-three places, ties included (lower is better for taxes, hours, working poverty and the pay gap): Luxembourg is in the top three in 3 of 6 tests; Romania is in the bottom three in 4 of 6, but in the top three for the gender pay gap. On average place across the six tests, Ireland comes first (5.0), ahead of the Netherlands (5.3) and Luxembourg (6.7). Data notes: LU and SK have a break in series in the 2025 income and working-poverty figures, LT's are provisional; ES and FR hours use a different definition; most 2024 pay gap figures are provisional. Which country would you rather work in, and why? Tell me in the comments. Chapters: 00:00 Intro 00:35 Take-home pay 02:02 Typical income 03:19 The tax bite 04:41 The working week 06:14 Working but poor 07:37 Gender pay gap 08:52 The verdict Sources: Intro: Eurostat earn_nt_net (2025) https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databro... Take-home pay: Eurostat earn_nt_net (2025) https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databro... Typical income: Eurostat ilc_di03 (2025) https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databro... The tax bite: Eurostat earn_nt_taxwedge (2025) https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databro... The working week: Eurostat lfsa_ewhuis (2025) https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databro... Working but poor: Eurostat ilc_iw01 (2025) https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databro... Gender pay gap: Eurostat earn_gr_gpgr2 (2024) https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databro... The verdict: Eurostat earn_nt_net (2025) https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databro... Context: Net earnings = gross earnings minus the employee's social security contributions and income taxes, plus family allowances for households with children; the average worker's earnings cover NACE sections B to N; the reference period is the calendar year (Eurostat metadata, earn_net): https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/cache/m... Equivalised disposable income: the total income of a household, after tax and other deductions, divided by the number of equivalent adults (modified OECD scale) and attributed to each member (Eurostat glossary): https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statist... The purchasing power standard (PPS) is an artificial currency unit; theoretically, one PPS can buy the same amount of goods and services in each country (Eurostat glossary): https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statist...) Tax wedge on labour cost: income tax on gross wage earnings plus the employee's and the employer's social security contributions, as a percentage of the total labour costs of the earner, for single persons without children earning 67% of the average worker's earnings (Eurostat metadata, earn_net): https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/cache/m... The Netherlands has the highest share of part-time workers in the EU: 42.7% of the employed aged 15-64 in 2025 (Eurostat, lfsa_eppga): https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databro... At-risk-of-poverty rate: the share of people with an equivalised disposable income (after social transfers) below 60% of the national median equivalised disposable income (Eurostat glossary): https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statist... Unadjusted gender pay gap: the difference between the average gross hourly earnings of male and female paid employees, as a percentage of male earnings; enterprises with 10 or more employees; unadjusted for differences in the individual characteristics of men and women (Eurostat glossary): https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statist...) #europe #eurostat #maps