How much do you have to earn for a decent living in Romania? Heated debate on social networks: “5,000 lei is strictly necessary”
The discussion about how much a Romanian should earn to have a decent living on the past days on Reddit. A user calculated that “for the strict necessary in Romania you need around 5,000 lei per month”, including rent, food, invoices, transport, medicines, a cheap vacation per year, clothes and a few money to set aside. The post has gathered countless reactions and contains between those who believe that the minimum wage should be doubled and those who say that such a threshold would push the economy into collapse.
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Financial Education Expert Adrian Asoltanie explains for the truth where the balance is between desires, realities and solutions: “We start from the premise that on the current situation, the revenues of 5,000 lei per person should cover a minimal lifestyle: utilities, food, clothes, a bit of leave, the usual expenses for one person per month. The question is how we reach this income, which is basic anyway. Inevitably, on the one hand, at the collapse of a good part of the companies.
The second way, he explains, is the one in which the individual makes a plan to increase his revenues alone, to 5,000 or over 5,000, because there are many people who earn over 5,000 lei in Romania.
How can this be achieved? And sustainably? “Here we have the option to change your job, to change the city, if there are not enough opportunities in your city where you live, there are not enough employers, companies, companies. Or, here, 4 million people have changed their country trying to earn more money. The framework of your company, to move to the higher level of income and professional qualification ”says the specialist.
So, in his opinion, the solution is the solution is the investment in education, the improvement of your personal skills and knowledge, the relationships you build your networking, the environment in which you turn, the surroundings you have, the habits you read, how you spend your time. “All these things that seem small and insignificant are in one way or another in or in or in or in the pocket or in the wallet”, complete it.
Reddit: Between ideal and pragmatism
On Redit Romania, a user started the discussion starting from: “I was doing some calculations and for the strict necessary in Romania you need around 5,000 lei. Here include: rent, food, public transport (subscription) and money for medicines, a cheap 7-day holiday, cheap clothes, a few money to put aside.”
Someone else wrote that: “The salary increases with productivity, as it has grown in IT. In Romania, the brains leave and there are people who do not bring value.
But others defended the idea that “The minimum wage must be related to the prices”, Even if that means a strong state intervention.
Another comment, which sparked several reactions, directly attacked the narrative of “capitalists who cannot pay”: “Do you have no money to pay decent minimum wages related to minimum expenses? It means there is no demand for your product, the free market tells you that you have nothing to do on the market.
The discussions have reached other topics: progressive taxation, comparisons with the USA, but also more direct arguments: “The minimum wage is not made to have a decent living, but not to die of hunger. You want more, you learn, you change your domain, you become more productive. The minimum wage is not for men in all nature who want a complete life, but for students or beginning jobs.”
In reply, others have drawn attention to official data. A user quoted the minimum basket for a decent living: “10,450 lei for a family of two adults and two children in 2024. For a single person, 3,972 lei. With inflation, probably today is almost 5,000.”
European context: Romania, among the latter at the minimum wage
Although the debate on the threshold of 5,000 net lei has inflamed the online spirits, the official data shows that Romania remains coda in the European Union at the level of the minimum gross wage.
According to the latest Eurostat data, the minimum wage has doubled in the last six years, from 2,080 lei to 4,050 lei in 2025. However, Romania has only the fourth lowest minimum wage in the EU, equivalent to 814 euros.
In January 2025, ten Member States had minimum wages below 1,000 euros: Bulgaria (551 EUR), Hungary (707 EUR), Latvia (740 EUR), Romania (814 EUR), Slovakia (816 EUR), Czech Republic (826 EUR), Estonia (886 EUR), Malta (961 EUR), Greece (967) and Greece (967) Croatia (987 EUR).
Another six countries are between 1,000 and 1,500 euros: Cyprus (1,000 EUR), Portugal (1,015 EUR), Lithuania (1,038 EUR), Poland (1,091 EUR), Slovenia (1,278 EUR) and Spain (1,381 EUR).
At the top of the standings, six states exceed 1,500 euros: France (EUR 1,802), Belgium (2,070 EUR), Germany (2,161 EUR), Netherlands (2,193 EUR), Ireland (2,282 EUR) and Luxembourg (2,638 EUR).
The discrepancies remain huge: the highest minimum wage in the EU is almost five times higher than the lowest. However, Eurostat emphasizes that the differences are attenuated when the price level is taken into account and related to the parity of the purchasing power (PPS).
