There are various indicators for comparing wages and income, but Eurostat's new calculation, the adjusted average annual wage per full-time employee, is particularly useful.

According to Eurostat, in 2023 the average annual full-time adjusted salary ranged from 13.503 euros in Bulgaria to 81.064 in Luxembourg, while the EU average was 37.863 euros.

Nine member states have wages above the EU average, while 17 countries have fallen below. The Netherlands is not included in the data due to differences in methodology.

Apart from Luxembourg, the average adjusted salary was over 50.000 euros in five other countries. Among them Denmark (67.604), Ireland (58.679), Belgium (57.989), Austria (54.508) and Germany (50.988). Finland, Sweden and France also rank above the EU average.

Bulgaria is followed at the bottom by Hungary (16.895), Greece (17.013), Romania (17.739), Poland (18.054) and Slovakia (19.001, all with annual salaries below 20.000 euros. Italy and Spain are below the EU average with salaries annual of about 32.500 euros.

Croatia has an average annual salary of 21.523 euros, while Slovenia is better - 33.081 euros.

As the cost of living varies from country to country, the standard of purchasing power should also be considered. When annual wages are adjusted to this standard of purchasing power, the differences are smaller compared to nominal figures. However, there are still significant differences across the EU.

The adjusted average annual full-time wage per employee, measured by the purchasing power standard, ranged from 20.525 in Greece to 53.745 in Luxembourg. In nominal terms, Greece was ranked third from the bottom, but had the worst result by purchasing power standard.

In this indicator, only seven countries exceeded the EU average: Luxembourg, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Austria, Ireland and France.

Among the 26 EU countries, the average annual full-time adjusted wage per employee decreased only in Sweden between 2022 and 2023.

In Sweden, the average wage fell by 1.817 euros, reflecting a 4 percent drop due to the conversion of the Swedish krona to the euro. In the EU, salaries increased by 2.225 euros or 6 percent.

In nominal terms, salaries have increased the most in Luxembourg, Belgium and Ireland, and in each of these countries they reach over 4.000 euros. Average salaries in Malta, Greece and Italy have increased by less than 1.000 euros.

Looking at percentage changes, the highest growth was seen in Romania, Hungary, Poland, Latvia and Croatia, where average wages rose by over 15 percent. In contrast, increases were below 5 percent in Malta, Italy, Greece, Denmark, Finland and Cyprus.