About 1 in 4 people is paid almost twice as much as the other 3/ The salary structure has "experienced" significant transformations in two years
In just two years, the wage pyramid in Albania has undergone a significant transformation, according to INSTAT data. The group of employees with the minimum wage has halved, while the number of those paid over 120 thousand lek gross has doubled. The latest data on the distribution of employees by average gross monthly wage show a strong shift towards higher wages, but also a silent polarization of the income structure.
In the first quarter of 2023, more than one in three employees in Albania (38.8%) received a salary that was close to or at the minimum wage. But at the beginning of 2025, this group represents only 12.4% of employees. The 26.4 percentage point drop is among the largest ever recorded in such a short period of time.
In contrast, the highest salary groups have grown at a rapid pace. Those earning over 120,000 lekë have increased from 7% at the beginning of 2023 to 13.5% at the beginning of 2025. The growth is even stronger for the 95,001 to 120,000 lekë group, from 6% to 13%. So, one in four employees today earns over 95,000 lekë per month, a percentage that two years ago did not even exceed 13%.
However, the picture is not so positive for everyone. Almost half of the employed (48.2%) at the beginning of 2025 receive less than 60 thousand lek gross per month. Specifically, 12.4% are still at the minimum wage level, 23% receive from 40,001 to 50,000 lek, and 12.8% are included in the 50,001–60,000 lek segment.
This means that although wage structures have moved, a very large percentage of the working population remains at the lower income levels, with purchasing power that does not keep up with price increases or living standards.
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