Romania leads EU in wage tax burden, workers keep smallest share of salary

Eurostat data for 2025, released in mid‑2026, shows the share of gross earnings taken by income tax and social‑security deductions varies widely across Europe. For a single worker without children earning the average wage, the burden ranges from 15.1 % in Cyprus to a peak of 41.5 % in Romania, with the EU average at 29.1 %. The average annual gross salary in the EU is €37,958, while the net average is €26,929, meaning €11,029 per worker is diverted to taxes and contributions.

Six additional countries see more than one‑third of gross pay deducted: Lithuania (39.1 %), Belgium (37.6 %), Slovenia (36.9 %), Germany (34.8 %), Denmark (34.0 %) and Hungary (33.5 %). Luxembourg (32.6 %) and Croatia (31.5 %) also sit above the EU mean, whereas Greece records the lowest burden after Cyprus at 17.0 %.

Among the EU’s four largest economies, Germany has the highest share (34.8 %) and Spain the lowest (22.1 %). Southern European states generally have lower shares, while Central and Eastern European nations tend toward higher deductions. Family status dramatically reduces the effective tax load: in Germany the share falls from 34.8 % for a single worker to just 0.2 % for a one‑earner couple with two children, a difference of €16,424 in net earnings. In Greece and Poland the net income can even exceed the gross amount for families because of child allowances and tax refunds.

Romania’s tax structure includes a 25 % pension contribution, a 10 % health contribution and a 10 % income‑tax rate applied after social‑security deductions, leaving workers with roughly 58 % of their gross salary.