Northern and Western Europe rank highest in police salaries, while Southern and Eastern Europe improve in PPS rankings.
The police play a vital role in upholding public order and ensuring the safety of citizens. To support these essential services, European governments allocate considerable resources each year.
In 2022, public expenditure on order and safety across the European Union reached 1.7 per cent of GDP.
But how well are police officers compensated for their crucial work? How do police salaries compare across Europe?
Drawing on estimates from Eurostat’s Salary Calculator, the EU’s official statistical office, Euronews Next takes an in-depth look at police salaries across the EU and the UK.
Spain pays the lowest out of Europe’s Big Four
In 2023, monthly gross police officer salaries ranged from €699 in Bulgaria to €5,761 in Denmark. These figures apply to a 35-year-old male police officer with over 10 years of experience, lower tertiary education, and a 36-hour work week.
Apart from Denmark, police officer salaries exceeded €4,000 in three additional countries. Germany, Luxembourg, and Belgium followed Denmark with salaries around €4,200, while officers in the Netherlands earned €3,881 and those in Ireland €3,576.
In France, a police officer meeting the above specifications earned €3,395, while in Italy, the figure stood at €2,537. Among the EU’s top four economies, Spanish police officers received the lowest salary at €2,271.
Police officers earned less than €1,250 in five EU countries. Salaries were just under €1,250 in Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Croatia, each over €1,050, while officers in Bulgaria earned the lowest, at only €699.
Luxembourg is the only country to pay women more
The gender pay gap remains a significant issue across Europe, and the police force is no exception.
While data for some countries carries low reliability, Luxembourg stands out as the only country where women police officers earn more than their male counterparts.
In most EU countries, male officers earn over 10 per cent more than their female colleagues.
In 2022, one in five police officers in the EU was a woman. The chart above also highlights the salaries of female police officers.
Salaries of police inspectors and detectives
In many EU countries, the salaries of police inspectors and detectives are significantly higher than those of police officers, though the highest and lowest-paying countries remain the same.
Police inspector and detective salaries vary significantly across Europe, ranging from €1,316 per month in Bulgaria to €6,351 per month in Denmark.
These figures represent the earnings of a 40-year-old male with over 15 years of experience, working a standard 36-hour week.
They also earned more than €5,000 per month in Ireland (€5,451), with Germany (€5,300) and Luxembourg (€5,243) close behind. Austria (€4,860), the Netherlands (€4,563) and Belgium (€4,144) also offered salaries exceeding €4,000 for these roles.
In addition to Bulgaria, police inspector and detective salaries were below €2,000 in Latvia, Croatia, Lithuania, Romania, Poland, and Hungary.
Among the EU’s Big Four, Germany stood out as an outlier, with salaries over €5,000, compared to €3,763 in France, €2,878 in Italy, and €2,456 in Spain.
Significant disparities remain when adjusted for purchasing power
Salaries in purchasing power standard (PPS) offers a fairer comparison.
PPS is “an artificial currency unit” defined by Eurostat, where one PPS unit can theoretically buy the same amount of goods and services in each country. Purchasing power parity (PPP) “eliminates the effect of price level differences across countries”.
Looking at police salaries in PPS, the disparities are smaller compared to nominal figures, but significant gaps persist across the EU.
Police officer salaries with lower tertiary education, measured in PPS, ranged from 1,158 in Bulgaria to 4,397 in Denmark. The top and bottom countries remain the same as in the nominal figures.
Portugal ranked fourth from the bottom with a salary of 1,632 PPS. Among the ‘Big Four,’ Spain had the lowest salary at 2,481 PPS.
Denmark also topped the rankings for police inspector and detective salaries, offering 4,848 PPS, followed by Germany and Ireland. In contrast, Bulgaria reported the lowest salaries in this category at 2,179 PPS, with Hungary (2,211 PPS) and Lithuania (2,248 PPS) close behind.
The gender pay gap, measured in PPS, remains a significant issue for police officers, inspectors, and detectives. For women in these roles, the rankings shift slightly.
Ireland offered the highest salaries for women inspectors and detectives at 4,539 PPS, while Estonia and Latvia reported figures even lower than Bulgaria.
All Eurostat data represents capital city regions; however, there may be variations across other regions.
Northern and Western European countries lead in police salaries, while Eastern and Southern European countries lag behind with lower wages.
However, Southern and Eastern Europe show significant improvements in rankings when adjusted for PPS.
Police salaries in the UK
The UK figures are not included in the Eurostat estimates. While these figures are not directly comparable, it could be helpful to include data on British police officers based on national sources.
According to the UK government’s national careers website, the annual average salary for a police officer ranges from £29,000 (€35,337) to £46,000 (€55,880), depending on experience, with a typical work week of 37-40 hours. This translates to a monthly salary of approximately €2,945 to €4,657.
In the Metropolitan Police, which serves the Greater London area, the starting salary is £38,269 (€46,479). This increases annually, reaching up to £56,593 (€68,734) within seven years, resulting in a monthly salary of approximately €5,728.
In 2022, the EU had an average of 341 police officers per 100,000 people, with numbers ranging from 137 in Finland to 550 in Cyprus.
Portugal reported the lowest proportion of women police officers at 9 per cent, while Latvia had the highest share at 43 per cent.
