Data for 2008
Average Monthly Earnings of Employees, 2008
2008, as ILO’s 2026 release gives it · stored as published, never rewritten
This is what employees earn in a month on average, before tax, converted by the International Labour Organization into dollars of equal purchasing power so that a month’s pay can be compared across countries with very different prices.
Average Monthly Earnings of Employees, 2008 covers 77 countries on 3 measures. Iceland is highest, at 5,005.5; Malta is lowest, at 10.6. The middle country reads 1,009.2. Against 2007, 76 values changed (60 up, 16 down), 1 country joined, 5 left.
Average Monthly Earnings of Employees · Data for 2008
HighestIceland
5,005.5
LowestMalta
10.6Shaded by value in five groups of equal size, darkest at the better end.
01Position · derived
The table
Every country and every column of Average Monthly Earnings of Employees, 2008, as published. ILO ranks nobody on this measure; the position is derived here by ordering the published values. “=” marks a shared position.
Showing 25 of 77 countries · select a heading to sort
| derived | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | IcelandISLNorthern Europe | 5,005.5 | 3,855.2 | 6,082 | — |
| 2 |  LuxembourgLUXWestern Europe | 4,723.4 | 3,512.4 | 5,626 | — |
| 3 |  BelgiumBELWestern Europe | 4,042.5 | 3,303.3 | 4,680 | — |
| 4 |  NetherlandsNLDWestern Europe | 3,961.0 | 2,850.3 | 4,865 | — |
| 5 |  SingaporeSGPSouth-eastern Asia | 3,794.0 | 3,178.7 | 4,350 | — |
| 6 |  NorwayNORNorthern Europe | 3,663.2 | 2,872.6 | 4,384 | — |
| 7 |  AustriaAUTWestern Europe | 3,595.3 | 2,780.0 | 4,228 | — |
| 8 |  DenmarkDNKNorthern Europe | 3,509.1 | 3,044.9 | 3,943 | — |
| 9 |  SwitzerlandCHEWestern Europe | 3,469.5 | 2,476.0 | 4,366 | — |
| 10 |  United StatesUSANorthern America | 3,339.9 | 2,801.0 | 3,847 | — |
| 11 |  SwedenSWENorthern Europe | 3,232.2 | 2,709.3 | 3,745 | — |
| 12 |  FinlandFINNorthern Europe | 3,181.1 | 2,667.7 | 3,698 | — |
| 13 |  IrelandIRLNorthern Europe | 3,134.5 | 2,524.5 | 3,739 | — |
| 14 |  GermanyDEUWestern Europe | 2,745.1 | 2,009.2 | 3,379 | — |
| 15 |  SpainESPSouthern Europe | 2,732.2 | 2,308.7 | 3,063 | — |
| 16 |  CanadaCANNorthern America | 2,671.9 | 2,236.1 | 3,100 | — |
| 17 |  CyprusCYPWestern Asia | 2,660.4 | 2,128.5 | 3,126 | — |
| 18 |  AustraliaAUSAustralia and New Zealand | 2,611.1 | 1,998.8 | 3,166 | — |
| 19 |  United KingdomGBRNorthern Europe | 2,476.2 | 1,910.8 | 3,044 | — |
| 20 |  SloveniaSVNSouthern Europe | 2,475.1 | 2,349.0 | 2,586 | — |
| 21 |  South AfricaZAFSouthern Africa | 2,058.8 | — | — | — |
| 22 |  Costa RicaCRICentral America | 1,888.0 | 1,883.7 | 1,890 | — |
| 23 |  IsraelISRWestern Asia | 1,867.1 | — | — | — |
| 24 |  FranceFRAWestern Europe | 1,812.6 | 1,559.9 | 2,052 | — |
| 25 |  CroatiaHRVSouthern Europe | 1,739.3 | 1,625.6 | 1,829 | — |
| 26 |  CzechiaCZEEastern Europe | 1,641.2 | 1,344.6 | 1,891 | — |
| 27 |  EstoniaESTNorthern Europe | 1,517.0 | 1,246.4 | 1,803 | — |
| 28 |  ItalyITASouthern Europe | 1,428.7 | 1,246.6 | 1,567 | Break in series |
| 29 |  BahrainBHRWestern Asia | 1,381.7 | 1,924.3 | 1,326 | — |
| 30 |  GreeceGRCSouthern Europe | 1,315.3 | 1,197.0 | 1,403 | — |
| 31 |  PolandPOLEastern Europe | 1,307.4 | 1,176.2 | 1,413 | — |
| 32 |  HungaryHUNEastern Europe | 1,288.4 | 1,192.3 | 1,373 | — |
| 33 |  LatviaLVANorthern Europe | 1,247.7 | 1,111.3 | 1,388 | — |
| 34 |  MontenegroMNESouthern Europe | 1,241.5 | — | — | — |
| 35 |  SlovakiaSVKEastern Europe | 1,194.8 | 1,035.2 | 1,349 | — |
| 36 |  RussiaRUSEastern Europe | 1,147.2 | — | — | — |
| 37 |  PortugalPRTSouthern Europe | 1,052.8 | 947.0 | 1,156 | — |
| 38 |  LithuaniaLTUNorthern Europe | 1,041.1 | 874.6 | 1,213 | — |
| 39 |  BotswanaBWASouthern Africa | 1,009.2 | — | — | — |
| 40 |  PanamaPANCentral America | 943.7 | 908.5 | 965 | — |
| 41 |  AzerbaijanAZEWestern Asia | 939.5 | — | — | — |
| 42 |  KazakhstanKAZCentral Asia | 920.1 | — | — | — |
| 43 |  UruguayURYSouth America | 814.7 | 670.3 | 941 | — |
| 44 |  UkraineUKREastern Europe | 743.5 | 644.1 | 856 | — |
| 45 |  GuatemalaGTMCentral America | 739.9 | — | — | — |
| 46 |  GeorgiaGEOWestern Asia | 725.0 | 498.4 | 919 | — |
| 47 |  SeychellesSYCEastern Africa | 712.2 | — | — | — |
| 48 |  BulgariaBGREastern Europe | 692.1 | 608.2 | 765 | — |
| 49 |  ChinaCHNEastern Asia | 681.7 | — | — | — |
| 50 |  RomaniaROUEastern Europe | 678.8 | 607.7 | 732 | — |
| 51 |  MauritiusMUSEastern Africa | 674.1 | 516.9 | 762 | — |
| 52 |  ColombiaCOLSouth America | 671.4 | 658.9 | 680 | — |
| 53 |  Bosnia and HerzegovinaBIHSouthern Europe | 663.8 | 616.6 | 690 | — |
| 54 |  North MacedoniaMKDSouthern Europe | 648.0 | — | — | — |
| 55 |  ArmeniaARMWestern Asia | 637.0 | — | — | — |
| 56 |  HondurasHNDCentral America | 626.4 | 647.5 | 615 | Break in series |
| 57 |  BoliviaBOLSouth America | 618.5 | 506.2 | 685 | — |
| 58 |  JamaicaJAMCaribbean | 617.9 | 568.0 | 667 | — |
| 59 |  PeruPERSouth America | 613.9 | 495.1 | 687 | — |
| 60 |  BrazilBRASouth America | 611.9 | 520.9 | 682 | — |
| 61 |  ParaguayPRYSouth America | 603.4 | 501.5 | 664 | — |
| 62 |  MexicoMEXCentral America | 594.4 | 526.1 | 634 | — |
| 63 |  EcuadorECUSouth America | 593.8 | 555.5 | 614 | — |
| 64 |  MongoliaMNGEastern Asia | 580.3 | 546.3 | 617 | — |
| 65 |  Dominican RepublicDOMCaribbean | 541.7 | 456.5 | 611 | — |
| 66 |  PhilippinesPHLSouth-eastern Asia | 490.5 | 489.6 | 491 | — |
| 67 |  KyrgyzstanKGZCentral Asia | 425.0 | — | — | — |
| 68 |  PakistanPAKSouthern Asia | 371.0 | 220.1 | 392 | — |
| 69 |  MoldovaMDAEastern Europe | 339.8 | 299.5 | 385 | — |
| 70 |  IndonesiaIDNSouth-eastern Asia | 323.9 | 270.2 | 351 | Break in series |
| 71 |  NepalNPLSouthern Asia | 310.1 | 237.4 | 332 | Break in series |
| 72 |  Sri LankaLKASouthern Asia | 244.5 | 221.0 | 269 | — |
| 73 |  CambodiaKHMSouth-eastern Asia | 230.4 | 201.3 | 251 | — |
| 74 |  TajikistanTJKCentral Asia | 158.0 | — | — | — |
| 75 |  EgyptEGYNorthern Africa | 54.4 | 33.5 | 59 | Break in series |
| 76 |  SerbiaSRBSouthern Europe | 14.5 | — | — | — |
| 77 | MaltaMLTSouthern Europe | 10.6 | 10.5 | 11 | — |
02In 2008
At either end
The 5 countries at each end of the headline, then the highest and lowest on each other measure.
Highest
- 1Iceland5,005.5
- 2Luxembourg4,723.4
- 3Belgium4,042.5
- 4Netherlands3,961.0
- 5Singapore3,794.0
Lowest
- 77Malta10.6
- 76Serbia14.5
- 75Egypt54.4
- 74Tajikistan158.0
- 73Cambodia230.4
A higher value is the better result. The middle country reads 1,009.2. “Shared” marks a value another country also holds.
Each measure’s ends
032007 → 2008
Since 2007
- +1 / −5countries joined / left
- 76values changed, of 76 in both
- 60 · 16rose · fell
- 0unchanged
Rose most
- Iceland3,446.7 → 5,005.5+1,558.8
- South Africa877.8 → 2,058.8+1,180.9
- Costa Rica842.5 → 1,888.0+1,045.4
- Austria3,203.1 → 3,595.3+392.2
- Latvia927.5 → 1,247.7+320.2
Fell most
- Italy3,110.6 → 1,428.7−1,681.9
- Serbia1,035.5 → 14.5−1,021.0
- Egypt949.9 → 54.4−895.5
- Jamaica1,331.6 → 617.9−713.7
- Seychelles811.9 → 712.2−99.8
+ Nepal
− Guyana
− Hong Kong
− Thailand
− Timor-Leste
− Vietnam04Caveats
Read before you use
One year of the 2026 release
Every year in this series comes from ILO’s 2026 release, recalculated on one method, so a change from one year to the next is not a revision. It can differ from what was first published for 2008.
102 empty cells
An empty cell means the publisher gave no figure. It is never a zero.
Some readings carry a flag
ILO marks readings it considers estimates or provisional. The flags in this file: Break in series.
05The files
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Download average-monthly-earnings-2008-nations-inquiry.csv - ↗
The publisher’s original
ILO’s own file, on its own site.
https://rplumber.ilo.org/data/indicator/?id=EAR_EMTA_SEX_CUR_NB&format=.csv&channel=ilostat
What this site changed: Reshaped to one row per country, with its ISO code; no value recalculated, rescaled or rounded. In full
Licence: CC BY 4.0 · what it allows, in plain words
Cite this edition
International Labour Organization (ILO) (2008). Average Monthly Earnings of Employees, 2008 [data set], describing 2008. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/average-monthly-earnings/2008
0622 held
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How it has moved, charted by country