Information on data

Countries

The full dataset is available for 36 countries. These are the 27 EU countries, 3 countries from the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), and 6 candidate countries. For Kosovo, data are available only for household consumption expenditure.

PPP data disseminated by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) for Japan, the United States and the United Kingdom are also available.

Indicators

The following indicators are published by Eurostat:

• purchasing power parities (PPPs): they are scaled to the sum of the expenditures of EU members expressed in euro. This means that the PPP of one country indicates how many units of its national currency one would need in that country to maintain the purchasing power of 1 euro in the EU.
• price level indices (PLIs): they are defined as the PPPs divided by the respective nominal exchange rates and multiplied by 100. PLIs provide a measure of the relative price levels in each country.
• nominal expenditure in national currency, extracted from each country's national accounts
• nominal expenditure as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP)
• real expenditure, defined as nominal expenditure divided by the PPP
• real expenditure per inhabitant
• volume indices (of real expenditure per inhabitant)
• convergence indicators: they are defined as the coefficient of variation of the PLIs and per capita volume indices of GDP, actual individual consumption (AIC), and household final consumption expenditure (HFCE). They measure price and volume convergence across countries.

Breakdowns

The above indicators are published at the  level of 61 categories, which include the main national accounts aggregates.

Time series

The years from 1995 onward are included. However, the availability of data depends on the country and the aggregate. For details, please consult the  Purchasing power parities reference metadata.

PPPs are compiled on an annual basis. Every year in June and December, the most recent price survey results and national accounts data are incorporated into the calculation. Then the updated data for PPPs, PLIs, and volume indices for GDP, its main sub-aggregates, and a selected number of categories are published in Eurostat's database.

PPPs for a new reference year (t) are published according to the following steps:

• t+3 months: release of PPP flash estimate. Eurostat calculates PPPs, for GDP only, for the 27 EU countries based on the latest available data for prices and national accounts. This is done by applying a similar method as the one used for the preliminary results at t+6 months.
• t+6 months: first preliminary results are released. They are based on extrapolations from year t-1 and on the new data for year t that are available at that time.
• t+12 months: preliminary results are made available. They incorporate all new price and expenditure data for year t.
• t+24 months: revised preliminary results are made available. They incorporate the most recent expenditure estimates.
• t+36 months: final results for year t are made available. These results are ‘final’ in the sense that there will be no further updates when countries revise their national accounts.

Exceptional general revisions can be carried out in order to take into account changes in underlying concepts or methodological advances, such as in connection to the  introduction of ESA 2010.

The data are used for the following main purposes

• convert national accounts aggregates into comparable volume aggregates PPPs can be used to compare the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of different countries without the different price levels in those countries distorting the figures.
• analyse relative price levels across countries. For this purpose, the PPPs are divided by the current nominal exchange rate to get a price level index (PLI) which expresses the price level of a given country relative to others.

Furthermore, the EU allocates structural funds based on the GDP per capita in PPS. Regions where GDP per capita in PPS is less than 75% of the EU average (taken over a 3-year period) are eligible for support from the structural funds.

PPPs are essentially indicators of price level differences across countries at a given time.

Unlike the sampling of products and price collection for consumer price indices that are meant to show how prices change over time, the sampling of products and the price collection for PPPs are meant to show price differences across countries or other geographical regions.

If necessary, the selection of products to be priced will be changed between 2 consecutive surveys to maintain or improve comparability across countries. Survey methodologies may also change from one survey to the next if it is thought to be necessary to get a better comparison of price level differences across countries.

Still, PPPs and PPP-based indicators may be used in some circumstances to compare different years, provided that the results are interpreted carefully. For example, it makes sense to follow the development over time of volume indices for high-level aggregates like GDP or actual individual consumption. However, volume indices for lower-level aggregates will typically show more volatility over time, which can be caused partly by changes in the samples of products or methodology.

There is no ‘perfect’ multi-purpose indicator that simultaneously captures price differences across countries and price changes across years adequately.

For example, a time series of price level indices does not provide a reliable measure of the development of prices in a country. For that purpose, the consumer price index should be used.

Similarly, if we want to compare the rate of price change in 2 or more countries, the harmonized index of consumer prices (HICP) is available for European countries. So, a time series of PLIs shows how the price levels in different countries compare to each other over consecutive years and gives a rough indication of how these relative price levels have changed over time.

PPPs are mostly used to convert expenditures on different goods or services in different countries into a ‘common’ currency and a common price level. For example, a time series in current prices for GDP per capita, which is deflated by the PPP of the same year, ensures that relative volumes across countries for each year are comparable.

However, the growth rates will not reflect real growth because the expenditures are expressed in common, current prices. Still, when shown in index form (for example, EU27 = 100) and in per capita terms, they can be used as an analytical tool to compare different years, but with caution.

On the other hand, a time series of GDP per capita in fixed prices, deflated by the PPP of the base year, would produce both real volumes expressed at the same price level for all countries as well as real growth rates.

But, this approach is often problematic because price structures and how prices compare in different countries change over time. The assumption of a fixed-price relative (the PPP of the base year) is not realistic, especially for long time series.

PPPs and real expenditures are also available from national accounts.

While the PPPs for GDP are identical in both domains, there are some important differences between the 2 sets of volume indicators.

PPP data in more detail can be obtained for research purposes only.

You can request the data by sending us a description of the research project for which it will be used, a description of the data you want (PPPs, PLIs, and expenditure weights), and a signed statement of confidentiality stating that the detailed data will not be published.

Please use this  data request form. The data is free of charge.