Mapped: Minimum Wages Around the World

Mapped: Minimum Wages Around the World

Minimum wages vary widely around the world, but comparing headline wage rates alone can obscure how much workers can actually buy with them.

This visualization compares monthly minimum wages using 2024 data from the International Labour Organization. Figures are expressed in purchasing power parity (PPP)-adjusted U.S. dollars, making wages more comparable based on what they can buy locally.

Where no single national minimum exists, ILOSTAT uses other applicable wage floors to make comparisons across countries.

The Countries With the Highest Minimum Wages

Switzerland tops the dataset at $3,804 per month, based on a regional rather than nationwide minimum wage. Germany, the UK, and the Netherlands follow at roughly $2,900. Eight of the top 10 countries are in Europe, while Australia and New Zealand are the only two outside the region.

South Korea stands out at $2,362, the highest figure in Asia. The U.S. sits much lower at $1,257 per month, ranking 25th overall. The ILO uses the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour rather than the $10.69 average state minimum in 2024.

Rank	Country	Monthly Minimum Wage, PPP-Adjusted
1	Switzerland	$3,804
2	Germany	$2,928
3	UK	$2,902
4	Netherlands	$2,876
5	Australia	$2,819
6	Belgium	$2,752
7	Iceland	$2,730
8	New Zealand	$2,673
9	France	$2,465
10	Ireland	$2,433
11	South Korea	$2,362
12	San Marino	$2,339
13	Canada	$2,324
14	Spain	$2,248
15	Poland	$2,141
16	Japan	$1,839
17	Romania	$1,799
18	Oman	$1,757
19	Greece	$1,735
20	Portugal	$1,713
21	Israel	$1,630
22	Bahrain	$1,590
23	Hungary	$1,409
24	Czechia	$1,319
25	U.S.	$1,257
26	Hong Kong SAR	$1,186
27	Costa Rica	$1,093
28	Bolivia	$1,078
29	Chile	$1,076
30	Malaysia	$1,035
31	Bahamas	$1,017
32	Fiji	$1,010
33	Dominica	$1,000
34	Indonesia	$993
35	Paraguay	$986
36	Guatemala	$963
37	Panama	$943
38	Belize	$940
39	Honduras	$929
40	Trinidad and Tobago	$909
41	Palau	$889
42	Egypt	$863
43	Bosnia and Herzegovina	$850
44	Colombia	$843
45	Dominican Republic	$826
46	Thailand	$822
47	Jordan	$809
48	Morocco	$773
49	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	$766
50	Seychelles	$766
51	Belarus	$766
52	El Salvador	$760
53	Mauritius	$753
54	Saint Kitts and Nevis	$740
55	Grenada	$705
56	Antigua and Barbuda	$702
57	Viet Nam	$693
58	Jamaica	$670
59	Russia	$662
60	Azerbaijan	$654
61	Iraq	$626
62	South Africa	$620
63	Guyana	$619
64	Mexico	$599
65	Barbados	$592
66	Mongolia	$591
67	Maldives	$587
68	Pakistan	$570
69	Argentina	$568
70	Nicaragua	$565
71	Brazil	$559
72	Libya	$553
73	China	$544
74	Gabon	$529
75	Peru	$526
76	Congo	$517
77	Tunisia	$513
78	Nepal	$490
79	Kazakhstan	$483
80	Armenia	$476
81	Algeria	$473
82	Iran	$466
83	Vanuatu	$458
84	Samoa	$440
85	Equatorial Guinea	$425
86	Kuwait	$408
87	Philippines	$400
88	Afghanistan	$393
89	Bangladesh	$379
90	Mozambique	$379
91	Qatar	$363
92	Kenya	$361
93	Botswana	$354
94	Lebanon	$344
95	Côte d’Ivoire	$320
96	Uzbekistan	$311
97	Lesotho	$306
98	Kiribati	$289
99	Laos	$286
100	Suriname	$283
101	Cape Verde	$282
102	Senegal	$280
103	Papua New Guinea	$268
104	Benin	$261
105	Timor-Leste	$252
106	Chad	$252
107	Tajikistan	$252
108	Nigeria	$245
109	Mauritania	$244
110	Togo	$235
111	India	$233
112	Tanzania	$228
113	Burkina Faso	$226
114	Angola	$225
115	Solomon Islands	$219
116	Comoros	$218
117	Cameroon	$212
118	Madagascar	$210
119	Mali	$208
120	Sri Lanka	$200
121	Niger	$196
122	Bhutan	$180
123	Haiti	$167
124	Guinea	$153
125	Central African Republic	$133
126	Sierra Leone	$121
127	Ghana	$100
128	Kyrgyzstan	$91
129	Guinea-Bissau	$83
130	Gambia	$67

After adjusting for purchasing power, the U.S. federal minimum wage is less than half Germany’s, despite the U.S. having one of the highest average incomes in the world.

Minimum-wage systems aren’t identical across countries. The U.S. figure uses the federal minimum, while Canada’s figure represents the median of provincial rates. As a result, the figures should be read as standardized country comparisons rather than the wage floor faced by every worker.

Countries where wage floors are set primarily through collective bargaining, including Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Austria, and Italy, are shown as having no comparable data.

Why the U.S. Minimum Wage Ranks 25th

One reason for America’s position is that the federal minimum wage hasn’t increased in 17 years. It has remained at $7.25 an hour since July 2009, the longest stretch without an increase since the federal minimum wage was established.

Inflation has steadily eroded what that $7.25 paycheck can buy. To match the purchasing power of the federal minimum wage when it took effect in 2009, workers would need to earn $11.47 an hour today. In other words, its purchasing power has fallen by roughly 37% since 2009.

Many Americans earn above the federal wage floor. Thirty states and Washington, D.C., have minimum wages above $7.25, while some cities set even higher rates. Still, the long federal freeze helps explain why the U.S. sits significantly below many other high-income economies.

How Cost of Living Reshuffles the Ranking

Adjusting for local prices produces some surprising comparisons. Poland ranks 15th globally at $2,141 per month, close to Spain at $2,248 and ahead of Japan at $1,839.

In Latin America, Costa Rica leads at $1,093, just $164 below the U.S. federal minimum on a purchasing-power basis. Last year, Costa Rica raised private-sector minimum wages using a formula that considers both the cost of living and productivity growth.

These figures offer a better sense of what minimum wages can buy locally, but they don’t account for taxes or benefits. Because the adjustments are national, they can also mask large differences in housing costs between cities and regions.

Learn More on the Voronoi App

To learn more about this topic, check out this graphic comparing minimum wages across countries and U.S. states, adjusted for living costs.

• Source: https://www.visualcapitalist.com/mapped-minimum-wages-around-the-world-adjusted-for-cost-of-living/