Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT)

Population, Employment and Cost of Living Statistics Division (B4)
Retail Price Indices Section (B44)

46 Pireos & Eponiton str.
185.10 Piraeus
Greece

30 January 2026

30 January 2026

30 January 2026

See concept 3.1 of the Eurostat metadata file prc_ppp_esms.

The Hellenic Statistical Authority pursues its mission by following in all areas the highest European and international standards of statistical practice, as well as by unswervingly observing the rules and responsibilities it is committed to.

Thus, it strives to:

• Be and remain, beyond any doubt, an independent Statistical Authority, and always function in a way that reflects this very principle
• Produce statistics that are useful—relevant—for public policy, the economy, and more broadly the life of the people
• Earn and continuously renew the confidence of users of statistics in their credibility and reliability
• Obtain and safeguard the confidence of the statistical reporting units—the households, enterprises, and other entities—which provide confidential information for the production of statistical data.

Above principles serve as the basis on which the Hellenic Statistical Authority coordinates the functions of the other agencies in the Hellenic Statistical System concerning the development, production and dissemination of the official statistics of Greece.

The Hellenic Statistical Authority also strives for full cooperation with Eurostat and the other Services of the European Commission, as well as with the National Statistical Institutes of the other member states of the European Union, aiming to be a full partner in the workings and evolution of the European Statistical System.

The organigram of ELSTAT is attached. 

The ELSTAT PPP team is responsible for the PPP exercise. It is consisted of five members, permanent employees of ELSTAT, three of whom are statisticians. It belongs to the “Retail Prices Indices Section” of “Population, Employment, Cost of Living Statistics Dividion”, which is responsible for the production of the following statistics:

a. Consumer Price Index (CPI),

b. Harmonised Index of Consumer Price (HICP),

c. Harmonised Index of Consumer Price at Constant Tax Rates (HICP-CT),

d. Purchasing Power Parities Surveys (PPP),

e. Housing Price Indices (HPI and OOH).  

The Head of the Division has the high supervision of the whole project.

For the needs of the European Comparison Program, the PPP team is mainly responsible:

• to carry out the preview and pre-survey works;
• to organize and to conduct the price collection of two annual consumer goods and services price surveys in the capital city;
• to perform the intra-country and inter-country validation works;
• to conduct the annual survey on compensation of general government employees, collecting the salaries data concerning civil servants by the relative public bodies;
• to fill out the Hospital services questionnaire, using the claims which the public hospitals submit for reimbursement to the official buyer organization, which reimburse the expenditure of people with valid security capacity at the time of their hospitalization;
• to fill the Rents questionnaire annually, based on data by the ELSTAT Household Budget Survey, in combination with National  Accounts data, regarding the number of dwellings.
• to carry out the Eurostat/ISRP annual estate agencies rent survey as part of the process of determining parities for the remuneration of staff working for the EU and the Coordinated Organizations;
• to represent ELSTAT to Eurostat Working Groups and Countries Meetings, in order to monitor and update the information regarding the new developments and the requirements of the field.

The capital goods surveys are subcontracted to external experts, due to the specialized technical knowledge which is required. The pre-survey works and price collection are carried out by the experts under the supervision of ELSTAT and the validation work for both relative surveys is carried out in close collaboration with the ELSTAT.

The monthly temporal adjustment factors (HICP detailed indices) are extracted from the HICP database, in order to convert the average prices at the time of the survey to annual prices. The PPP team checks and confirms the data. It is noted that the indices for BH is produced by ELSTAT and they are entered manually in Valitadion Tool.

The requirement to adjust capital area prices to national average prices needs the productions of spatial adjustment factors, which cannot be extracted from CPI data and consequently a specific survey is required. For this reason, the ratio between capital area and rest of the country is considered to be equal to 1.

The GDP final expenditure weights (Table 24), VAT and tips data required for PPP exercise are derived  annually from the National Accounts Division of ELSTAT, which are exclusively involved in all stages of the calculations procedure (breakdowns, estimations and validation steps).  Data for education are collected and analyzed by Eurostat and then the respective results are approved by ELSTAT. Moreover, data for energy products are reviewed and approved.

In addition to office staff, there are two sets of price collectors at disposal:

a. permanent price collectors belonging to the data collection section of ELSTAT (usually 6-10 persons), who are well experienced and familiar with PPP surveys.

b. external price collectors subcontracted for PPP surveys; usually 6-10 persons, depending on the needs of each survey.

Specific training meetings are organized for the price collectors for each survey prior to the conduction of the survey. The item list is translated for both the pre-survey and the survey stage. PPP data are collect on pen and paper and the data entry is carried out by a specialized employee.

See concept 3.2 of the Eurostat metadata file prc_ppp_esms.

See concept 3.3 of the Eurostat metadata file prc_ppp_esms.

See concept 3.4 of the Eurostat metadata file prc_ppp_esms.

See concept 3.5 of the Eurostat metadata file prc_ppp_esms.

See concept 3.6 of the Eurostat metadata file prc_ppp_esms.

The whole country.

See concept 3.8 of the Eurostat metadata file prc_ppp_esms.

Not applicable, because PPPs (Purchasing power parities) are primarily spatial indicators.

See concept 4 of the Eurostat metadata file prc_ppp_esms.

See concept 5 of the Eurostat metadata file prc_ppp_esms.

See concept 6.1 of the Eurostat metadata file prc_ppp_esms.

See concept 6.2 of the Eurostat metadata file prc_ppp_esms.

The issues concerning the observance of statistical confidentiality by the Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT) are arranged by articles 7, 8 and 9 of the Law 3832/2010 as in force, by Articles 8, 10 and 11(2) of the Regulation on Statistical Obligations of the agencies of the Hellenic Statistical Systemand by Articles 10 and 15 of the Regulation on the Operation and Administration of ELSTAT. ELSTAT disseminates the statistics in compliance with the statistical principles of the European Statistics Code of Practice and in particular with the principle of statistical confidentiality.

Protection of personal data ELSTAT abides by the commitments and obligations arising from the applicable EU and national legislation on the protection of the individual from the processing of personal data and the relevant decisions, guidelines and regulatory acts of the Hellenic Data Protection Authority. Pursuant to the Regulation on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data [Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 (General Data Protection Regulation - GDPR)], ELSTAT implements the appropriate technical and organisational measures for ensuring adequate level of security against risks for the personal data it collects and has access to, in the context of carrying out its tasks, in order to meet the requirements of this Regulation and to protect these personal data from any unauthorised access or illegal processing. The personal data collected by ELSTAT are used exclusively for purposes related to the conduct of surveys and the production of relevant statistics. Only ELSTAT has access to the data. The controller is the person appointed by law pursuant to the relevant provisions concerning the Legal Entities of Public Law and the Independent Authorities. The data are stored in the databases of ELSTAT for as long as required by the relevant legislation. Legal basis of the processing: Article 6, para 1(c) and 1(d) of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

ELSTAT protects and does not disseminate data it has obtained or it has access to, which enable the direct or indirect identification of the statistical units that have provided them by the disclosure of individual information directly received for statistical purposes or indirectly supplied from administrative or other sources. ELSTAT takes all appropriate preventive measures so as to render impossible the identification of individual statistical units by  technical or other means that might reasonably be used by a third party. Statistical data that could potentially enable the identification of the statistical unit are disseminated by ELSTAT if and only if:

         i.            these data have been treated, as it is specifically set out in the Regulation on Statistical Obligations of the agencies of the Hellenic Statistical System (ELSS), in such a way that their dissemination does not prejudice statistical confidentiality or

         ii.           the statistical unit has given its consent, without any reservations, for the disclosure of data.

Confidential data that are transmitted by ELSS agencies to ELSTAT are used exclusively for statistical purposes and the only persons who have the right to have access to these data are the personnel engaged in this task and appointed by an act of the President of ELSTAT.

ELSTAT may grant researchers conducting statistical analyses for scientific purposes access to data that enable the indirect identification of the statistical units concerned. The access is granted provided the following conditions are satisfied:

a) an appropriate request together with a detailed research proposal in conformity with current scientific standards have been submitted;

b) the research proposal indicates in sufficient detail the set of data to be accessed, the methods of analyzing them, and the time needed for the research;

c) a contract specifying the conditions for access, the obligations of the researchers, the measures for respecting the confidentiality of statistical data and the sanctions in case of breach of these obligations has been signed by the individual researcher, by his/her institution, or by the organization commissioning the research, as the case may be, and by ELSTAT.

Issues referring to the observance of statistical confidentiality are examined by the Statistical Confidentiality Committee (SCC) operating in ELSTAT. The responsibilities of this Committee are to make recommendations to the President of ELSTAT on:

• the level of detail at which statistical data can be disseminated, so as the identification, either directly or indirectly, of the surveyed statistical unit is not possible;
• the anonymisation criteria for the microdata provided to users;
• the granting to researchers access to confidential data for scientific purposes.

The staff of ELSTAT, under any employment status, as well as the temporary survey workers who are employed for the collection of statistical data in statistical surveys conducted by ELSTAT, who acquire access by any means to confidential data, are bound by the principle of confidentiality and must use these data exclusively for the statistical purposes of ELSTAT. After the termination of their term of office, they are not allowed to use these data for any purpose. Violation of data confidentiality and/or statistical confidentiality by any civil servant or employee of ELSTAT institutes the disciplinary offence of violation of duty and may be punished with the penalty of final dismissal.

ELSTAT, by its decision, may impose a penalty amounting from ten thousand (10,000) up to two hundred thousand (200,000) Euros to anyone who violates the confidentiality of data and/or statistical confidentiality. The penalty is always imposed after the hearing of the defense of the person liable for the breach, depending on the gravity and the repercussions of the violation. Any relapse constitutes an aggravating factor for the assessment of the administrative sanction.

Pursuant to the Regulation on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data [Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council, of 27 April 2016 (General Data Protection Regulation - GDPR)], ELSTAT implements the appropriate technical and organisational measures for ensuring adequate level of security against risks for the personal data it collects and has access to, in the context of carrying out its tasks, in order to meet the requirements of this Regulation and to protect these personal data from any unauthorised access or illegal processing.

Since PPP exercise is a multilateral statistical undertaking, it is important that all input data are available for validation purposes to all NSIs involved. However, only average prices per country and sample item are available to the participating NSIs, not the entire material as collected by each NSI. The prices data on individual consumer goods and services collected within the PPPs exercise requirements and provided to Eurostat are considered confidential since they refer to particular specifications of individual products and outlets Moreover, the dissemination of these basic data can lead, in some cases, to the disclosure of the price collection sources. There are no exceptions to this, as individual price observations are covered by confidentiality restrictions. It should be mentioned that for the requirements of construction and equipments surveys the subcontractor company involved signs out Statistical Confidentiality Declaration (ANNEX I) since it has access to primary data in order to participate in the validation rounds following ELSTAT Statistical Confidentiality Policy

In compliance with Community legislation and the European Statistics Code of Practice, ELSTAT disseminates national statistical data on its website (www.statistics.gr), fully observing professional independence and with a view to ensuring the simultaneous, equal and timely access for all users to statistical data according to the annual release calendar  (Release Calendar).

The result of the PPP exercise and overall GDP level expressed in PPPs is not published nationally, either in written or electronic form (website). All the users asking for any type of PPPs data are addressed to Eurostat website and ELSTAT usually provides them the relevant news releases. ELSTAT does not publish GDP figures in PPP terms. However the public can be served by using Eurostat database link.  

ELSTAT does not publish the PPP results on it's website, but it has a dedicated link (Purchasing Power Parities (PPPs)),  informing that the production of PPP data is carried out with funding of European Commission, providing some basic information and pointing to Eurostat website at EUROSTAT> Purchasing Power Parities for more details regarding the PPP methodology and relative results.

Data on CPI/HICP and GDP, as regards components of Final Consumption Expenditure, Nominal and real expenditure Volumes per Capita, Gross Fixed Capital Formation, are disseminated through ELSTAT website under domain Economy, Indices Section following a scheduled press release according to ELSTAT Dissemination Policy.

Not available.

Not available.

See concept 9 of the Eurostat metadata file prc_ppp_esms.

Not available.

Not available.

Not available.

See concept 10.4 of the Eurostat metadata file prc_ppp_esms.

Not applicable

The latest version of the "EUROSTAT-OECD Methodological manual on purchasing power parities" is available online. 

See concept 10.7 of the Eurostat metadata file prc_ppp_esms.

All data provided undergo a detailed multilateral validation process, described in detail in the PPP Manual (see 10.6).

At European level, the PPP Regulation requires Eurostat to assess the PPP processes of each EU Member State at least once every six years and to publish the results of these assessments on the Eurostat website. The outcome of these assessments are released on Eurostat's website.

See concept 12.1 of the Eurostat metadata file prc_ppp_esms.

See concept 12.2 of the Eurostat metadata file prc_ppp_esms.

All indicators are calculated and published.

See concept 13.1 of the Eurostat metadata file prc_ppp_esms.

See concept 13.2 of the Eurostat metadata file prc_ppp_esms.

See concept 13.3 of the Eurostat metadata file prc_ppp_esms.

See concept 14.1 of the Eurostat metadata file prc_ppp_esms.

See concept 14.2 of the Eurostat metadata file prc_ppp_esms.

See concept 15.1 of the Eurostat metadata file prc_ppp_esms.

See concept 15.2 of the Eurostat metadata file prc_ppp_esms.

See concept 15.3 of the Eurostat metadata file prc_ppp_esms.

Not applicable

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

See concept 17.1 of the Eurostat metadata file prc_ppp_esms.

Not applicable, cf. 17.1.

See concept 18.1 of the Eurostat metadata file prc_ppp_esms.

See concept 18.2 of the Eurostat metadata file prc_ppp_esms.

See concept 18.3 of the Eurostat metadata file prc_ppp_esms.

See concept 18.4 of the Eurostat metadata file prc_ppp_esms.

See concept 18.5 of the Eurostat metadata file prc_ppp_esms.

See concept 18.6 of the Eurostat metadata file prc_ppp_esms.

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