The minimum wage for January 2021 in 13 of the 21 EU member states which have national wages was below €1,000, in two it was a little over €1,000, and in six it was over €1,500, while across the 21 the highest minimum wage was almost seven times higher than the lowest, Eurostat said on Friday.

Bulgaria had the lowest minimum wage (€322) and Luxembourg the highest (€2,257). In Croatia, it was €624.

The other member states with minimum wages below €1,000 were Latvia (€500), Romania (€515), Hungary (€542), Slovakia (€646), Czech Republic (€652), Estonia (€654), Poland (€655), Lithuania (€730), Greece (€774), Malta (€792) and Portugal (€823).

In Slovenia (€1,074) and Spain (€1,126) minimum wages ranged just over €1,000 per month, while in six member states, they were above €1,500 per month: France (€1,603), Germany (€1,621), Belgium (€1,658), the Netherlands (€1,725), Ireland (€1,775) and Luxembourg (€2,257).

The disparities are considerably smaller when expressed in purchasing power standards. Bulgaria still had the lowest minimum wage (€604) and Luxembourg the highest (€1,707).

In Croatia, it was just under €900, ahead of Greece, Hungary, Czech Republic, Estonia, Slovakia, Latvia and Bulgaria, while behind Romania, Portugal and Malta.

The remaining eight member states had minimum wages up to €1,500 and Germany just over that.

Denmark, Italy, Cyprus, Austria, Finland and Sweden don’t have minimum wages defined by law but by collective agreements.