Bulgaria Tops Europe at €86,930 Net on €100,000 Salary as Belgium Falls to €50,750
Updated
Updated · Euronews · May 27
Bulgaria Tops Europe at €86,930 Net on €100,000 Salary as Belgium Falls to €50,750
5 articles · Updated · Euronews · May 27
€86,930 is the estimated take-home pay in Bulgaria on a €100,000 gross salary for a single worker with no children, versus just €50,750 in Belgium across 31 European countries.
Eastern Europe generally ranks higher because flatter income taxes, lower top rates or capped social contributions let high earners keep more, while Western and Northern systems take a bigger share through progressive taxes and levies.
€74,400 in Estonia, €72,800 in Czechia and about €70,500 in Switzerland place them near the top, while Denmark at €51,500 and Sweden at €52,000 join Belgium at the bottom.
€69,900 in the UK is the highest take-home among Europe’s five biggest economies, ahead of Spain at €64,200 and France at €63,000, with Germany at €57,900 and Italy at €56,700 trailing.
€100,000 remains above typical pay almost everywhere in Europe: Switzerland is the only country where the average wage exceeds that level, at €107,487, while Luxembourg leads the EU at €77,844.
With flat taxes boosting paychecks, are Europe's high-tax welfare states losing their appeal to top global talent?
Why do high earners in Bulgaria, a low-wage economy, keep more money than those in wealthy Switzerland?