The salaries Latin America's presidents vary significantly, both in nominal dollar values and in terms of the gap they represent compared to the minimum wage of their respective countries. They are also much lower than what Joe Biden earns as U.S. head of state.
The biggest wage gap is in Guatemala, where President Bernardo Arévalo earns 46 times more than the country's minimum wage ($420), according to a recent DW article that analyzed and ranked a total of eleven Latin American countries.
Following him in DW's ranking is Uruguayan President Luis Lacalle Pou, whose monthly income is 40 times the minimum wage of his compatriots ($580). His salary is higher than his Guatemalan counterpart, but seeing as the country's minimum wage is also higher, the gap is smaller and places him below in the list.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro has a salary that is 30 times the country's minimum wage ($335), while Argentina's Javier Milei's paycheck is the minimum wage multiplied by 26. Argentina has the lowest minimum wage among the 11 countries analyzed in a separate study by Bloomberg Línea cited by DW, at $182 per month.
Presidents Andrés Manuel López Obrador of Mexico and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil have salaries that are 22 times greater than their nations' minimum wages. Mexico's minimum wage stands at $445, while Brazil's is $283, meaning that AMLO's salary largely exceeds Lula's.
The article also highlights the large differences between the salaries of some of the Latin American heads of state. The president of Uruguay receives a gross monthly salary of $22,288, while the president of Bolivia, Luis Arce, earns $3,013 each month.
Javier Rodríguez Weber, Ph.D. in Economic History and professor at the University of the Republic of Uruguay (UDELAR), emphasized that, nevertheless, macroeconomic indicators of each economy, such as price levels, must also be considered in the analysis.
"Uruguay is a more expensive country than Bolivia, for example. When making international comparisons, we talk about money in terms of purchasing power parity, that is, not comparing dollars, because with $100 in Bolivia, I can buy much more than with $100 in Uruguay," he told DW.
The monthly salaries of the presidents in the region are still far below those of other countries. For example, President Joe Biden has a monthly gross income of $40,195, while German President Olaf Scholz earns $32,878.
French Presiden Emmanuel Macron, however, earns $12,883, less than the presidents of Guatemala ($19,062) or Uruguay ($19,062).
Latin American Presidents' Salary Ranking
- Uruguay, Luis Lacalle Pou, $22,892
- Guatemala, Bernardo Arévalo, $19,062
- Costa Rica, Rodrigo Chaves Robles, $10,915
- México, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, $9,.994
- Colombia, Gustavo Petro, $9,513
- Chile, Gabriel Boric, $8,092
- Panamá, Laurentino Cortizo, $7,000
- Brasil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, $6,205
- Honduras, Xiomara Castro, $5,577
- Argentina, Javier Milei, $4,785
- Bolivia, Luis Arce, $3,014
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