Real teacher salaries in Europe are down. Which countries pay the highest and lowest wages?

Teachers across Europe have gone on strike in recent years for better pay and working conditions, while many European education systems are suffering from shortages. 

They plan to continue striking and taking to the streets to be heard in 2024 as living costs increase and real wages are down in many countries.

Several indicators suggest that the problem is serious. Annual starting salaries of teachers, which are adjusted for inflation, fell in many countries across Europe in the last six years. 

More than half of teachers in the EU are not satisfied with their salaries. Only one-fifth of them think that the teaching profession is valued in society, and one in 10 regrets becoming a teacher.

Both 2022 and 2023 saw a series of teacher strikes take place across Europe including the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Hungary, Spain, Portugal, Czechia, and Romania. 

The calls of unions show that strikes will continue in 2024. 

Teachers in Northern Ireland have already confirmed that they will join industrial action after Christmas.

So, how do teacher salaries compare across Europe? Which countries pay teachers the most and the least? How much have teacher salaries changed in real terms in recent years?

Teacher salaries vary widely across Europe according to the European Commission EACEA/Eurydice’s 'Teachers’ and school heads’ salaries and allowances in Europe in 2021/2022' report.

The average annual gross actual salaries of low secondary teachers (ISCED 2) in public schools ranged from around €8,160 in Bosnia and Herzegovina to €71,184 in Germany. 

Data for some countries, including Luxembourg, which ranked at the top in the previous year, is not available for 2022.

The average actual salary refers to the weighted average gross annual salary,