Minimum Wage Rates in 207 Countries, 2014-2023

Abstract

Minimum wages are often associated with one rate per country with yearly updates, but only a minority of countries applies this model. Our study concludes that two not-mutually exclusive models for minimum wage setting are dominant, namely ensuring minimum wages for the entire labour force in 147 countries and mimicking collective bargaining in 76 countries. To achieve this outcome we used a database with fine-grained minimum wage information for 207 countries for each month between 2014-2023. The database contains information for more than 22,000 minimum wages, of which two-thirds from India with its mimicking model. Minimum wage levels are extremely low in Africa. In four out of five African countries hourly wages are less than 2 PPP adjusted US Dollar (USD), compared to less than one out of ten in the Americas and Europe. In nine years, on average countries updated their minimum wages 3.8 times, thus every 2.4 years. 39 countries did not update at all. High‑income countries update more regularly. Expressed in USD in the period 2015-2022 in just nine countries the minimum wages increased faster than inflation while in 137 countries with data available.