National Minimum Wage: Top 10 Countries in Africa

One of the benefits of work is the ability to earn wages for your labor. Ideally, as a remote, hybrid or onsite worker, you’ll prefer jobs that will enable you to at least meet your basic needs or that do not undervalue your efforts. These are some reasons why the concept of a minimum wage for workers continues to be topical all over the world. 

Find good paying remote jobs in Africa

A substantial segment of Africa’s total workforce (estimated to reach 529 million in 2024) finds itself among the working poor. Their low wages condemn them to living below the moderate poverty line, and they often lack any form of social protection. 

Africa employment and employment-to-population trends

Source: ILO

Definition of Minimum Wage

According to the International Labor Organization (ILO), minimum wage systems should be defined and designed in a way that supplements and reinforces other social and employment policies. An example of such policies is collective bargaining, which is used to set the terms of employment and working conditions. 

The ILO defines a minimum wage as the minimum amount of remuneration that employers are required to pay their employees for the work they perform during a given period (e.g., hourly, daily, weekly or monthly), which cannot be reduced by a collective agreement or an individual contract. Following this definition, minimum wages exist in more than 90% of the ILO member countries. 

Minimum wages aim to protect workers against unduly low pay. They help ensure a just and equitable share of the fruits of progress to everyone, and a minimum living wage for all who are employed and in need of such protection. They can also form part of a policy to combat poverty and lessen inequality, including disparities between men and women. 

Minimum wage determination is influenced by a variety of socioeconomic factors, including the cost of living, inflation, and the needs of workers and their families. Before arriving at minimum wages, governments often consider the general level of wages, social security benefits, and the relative living standards of different social groups in their countries. Other considerations include productivity, employment levels, and the capacity of employers to pay.

Minimum wages can be fixed in different ways. The ILO Minimum Wage Fixing Convention, 1970 (No. 131) offers flexibility with respect to this by ensuring that coverage is broad. The convention advocates adherence to the principle of full consultation by the wage fixer (which is usually the government) with social partners during the establishment, operation and modification of the minimum wage mechanisms. 

The ILO notes that collective bargaining must be backed by law if they are to be an effective way of fixing minimum wages. Only a few countries (mostly Nordic European states) presently rely exclusively on collective bargaining to arrive at minimum wages with a broad coverage for workers. 

Minimum-Wage Trends in Africa

The vast majority of countries in Africa have a minimum wage system in place (as of January 2025). The only exceptions are Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia and South Sudan. Namibia and Zimbabwe implement minimum wages in only some economic sectors. 

Countries such as Burundi, the Comoros, the Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Rwanda and Uganda have provisions for a minimum-wage system in their legislation. However, a lack of application law or non-adjustment over a long period means that the minimum wage mechanisms in these countries cannot currently be considered operational. Liberia is the only country in Africa in which minimum-wage rates are formally defined in the U.S. dollar instead of a national currency. African countries predominantly use monthly minimum wage rates.

Minimum-wage systems can differ according to the number of rates in place in a country. Multiple minimum wage rates are not uncommon in Africa. 23 of the continent’s 54 countries allow multiple minimum wages. Having multiple rates is not a problem in itself, except when it brings about non-compliance. 

The ILO recommends maintaining a balance between complexity and simplicity in minimum-wage structures. According to the organization, this recommendation will help ensure adaptability to socioeconomic circumstances without compromising operational efficiency.

Number of rates in countries with operational statutory minimum wage, as of end–2023

Source: ILO

Africa ranks among regions with the least number of ratifications of both the ILO Minimum Wage-Fixing Machinery Convention, 1928 (No. 26) and the above-mentioned ILO Minimum Wage Fixing Convention, 1970 (No. 131). As of January 2025, 38 African countries have ratified Convention No. 26, while only 11 countries have ratified Convention No. 131. Both conventions have been ratified by just eight countries. 17 countries are yet to ratify either convention. 

In most countries, the coverage provided by collective agreements is insufficient when it comes to protecting minimum standards for a broad majority of workers. In Africa, this is the case, for example, in Namibia and Zimbabwe, where only a few sectors are covered by collective agreements that define minimum-wage rates. 

Thus, governments in most African countries have specified statutory minimum wages backed by official regulations, including orders and decrees. These may include minimum wages fixed with or without consulting social partners. However, fixing minimum wages without appropriate consultations contravenes the provisions of Convention No. 131. 

Although wage boards or councils may also be responsible for setting minimum wages, these three cases (collective bargaining, statutory with and without social partner consultation) are the most common ways of fixing minimum wages in Africa. 

Inflation has an adverse impact on purchasing power or cost of living, especially when wages remain the same or are not rising at the same pace as consumer goods and services. When nominal wages cannot keep pace with the inflation rate, the real value of wages diminishes, causing significant hardship for wage earners, particularly for low-income households seeking essential goods and services. 

In many African countries, inflation has recently accelerated to levels not seen in decades. For example, there were double-digit price increases in 17 African countries in 2022 and in 19 countries in 2023. In such situations, minimum wage adjustments are essential.

To check rising inflation, many African countries have taken steps in recent years to raise their minimum wage levels. However, empirical data indicate that across the African continent, only a few nations have consistently revised their minimum wages since 2015. 

Specifically, over the past five years, just 12 nations have revised their minimum wages more than once. While many have enacted substantial increases in recent years, these adjustments followed extended periods during which the minimum wage remained unchanged.

National Minimum Wage: Top 10 Countries in Africa

Based on recent (January 2025) ILO data, here are the 10 countries with the highest minimum wages in Africa (derived from the diagrams below):

1. Seychelles (SYC)
2. Libya (LBY)
3. Morocco (MAR)
4. South Africa (ZAF)
5. Mauritius (MUS)
6. Equatorial Guinea (GNQ)
7. Egypt (EGY)
8. Algeria (DZA)
9. Tunisia (TUN)
10. Mauritania (MRT)
    

                 Monthly minimum wages in Africa in PPP (constant 2017 US$), 2015 and 2023

Source: ILO

Remote Work and Minimum Wages

Working from home can attract “wage penalties.” Statistics show that when attributes such as age, gender and education are considered, all types of homeworkers earn less than their counterparts working in office or factory locations.

Homeworker earnings as a percentage of a similar non-homeworker

Source: ILO

However, many organizations strive to treat their homeworkers fairly. The ILO has been providing support to governments and employers towards the design of good practice guidelines for the employment of remote workers. 

Since many industrial and digital platform remote employees are paid by the piece (or task), the ILO declares that it is important to ensure that these remote workers earn at least the minimum wage and are not offered less than similar non-remote workers paid per hour (or per day/week/month). 

Conclusion

Seychelles, Africa’s smallest country by land mass, is widely regarded as having the highest minimum wage on the continent. Although continental economic giants such as Egypt, South Africa and Algeria make the top 10, others such as Nigeria, Ethiopia, and Kenya do not. Statistics show that remote workers usually earn lower wages than analogous office or factory employees, a situation that needs to change, according to the ILO.