Country-level PPP comparison
Cost of living & purchasing power
See how much local spending power in one country corresponds approximately to a local-currency amount in another country, using household-consumption purchasing-power parities. A separate form on this page compares purchasing power for one household category using ICP 2021 category PPPs. A further form can apply the 2021 household-consumption PPP comparison to a salary amount after converting it between pay periods. These are national-average PPP comparisons, not a live price list, city index, market conversion, or after-tax salary.
The comparison uses 2021 PPP data. Relative price levels can change over time.
Purchasing-power result
Choose two countries and an amount, then submit to see the approximate purchasing-power equivalent.
Compare purchasing power by household category
Use this form to compare purchasing power for one household category. The general comparison above uses overall household-consumption PPP. This form uses ICP 2021 category PPPs for the selected heading only. It is not a shop price, rent quotation, medical bill, consumer-price index, or market conversion.
Category purchasing-power result
Choose countries, an amount, and a household category, then submit to see the approximate category purchasing-power equivalent.
Compare a salary by pay period
Use this form when the amount is a salary or pay figure. The amount is converted to an annual figure using the site salary calculator’s period arithmetic, compared with 2021 household-consumption PPP, then shown in the destination pay period. This is not tax, not FX, and not a job-market salary.
Salary purchasing-power result
Choose countries, a salary amount, and pay periods, then submit to see the approximate purchasing-power equivalent.
How this comparison works
Household-consumption comparison
The comparison uses World Bank World Development Indicators household and NPISH final-consumption PPP (measure HH_CONSUMPTION_PPP, WDI series PA.NUS.PRVT.PP) for reference year 2021. PPP compares relative purchasing power across countries. It is not a market conversion, not a city-to-city index, not a personal household budget, not exact current basket pricing, and not an after-tax income comparison. Figures are national-level averages. When a salary amount is compared, that amount is first converted to an annual figure using the site salary period arithmetic, then compared with this PPP measure, then expressed in the destination pay period using the same salary arithmetic. Frozen salary working assumptions are used (40 hours/week, 5 days/week, 52 weeks/year, 0 unpaid weeks, 12 payments/year). Advanced salary assumptions and annual bonus are not part of this journey.
Household-category comparison
The household-category comparison uses World Bank International Comparison Program 2021 heading PPPs (ICP 2021, vintage ICP20240804, local-currency units per US dollar). It compares purchasing power for one selected household category. Category values are heading-level PPPs; they are not the World Bank household-consumption PPP used in the first comparison and are not a price-level index used as a conversion rate. Coverage can differ from the general household-consumption comparison. Missing country or category cells are omitted; FSC16 does not estimate, interpolate, or fill them in. Economies treated as imputed in the ICP programme are excluded from this category pack. Category PPPs are not a 2026 live-price comparison.
Category coverage varies by country and household category. If either country lacks the selected category in the frozen ICP 2021 heading data, the comparison is unavailable and missing values are not estimated.
What this does not show
Results are approximate country-level purchasing-power equivalents. They do not show current market conversion, travel cash needs, rent-only cost, city prices, a household-specific budget, after-tax salary, what employers pay, or what a person should earn. A salary comparison uses the source country’s local-currency units and the destination country’s local-currency units. It is not a tax comparison and not a job-market benchmark.
A category result does not show an actual shop price, rent quotation, medical bill, consumer-price index, inflation adjustment, personal household budget, market conversion, salary recommendation, or cost forecast. It is not a substitute for the general household-consumption comparison above.
Source and attribution
Aggregate comparator: World Bank World Development Indicators. Measure: household/NPISH final-consumption PPP (WDI series PA.NUS.PRVT.PP). Reference year: 2021. This is not a category PPP.
Category overlay: World Bank International Comparison Program 2021 heading-level PPPs. Measure: category / heading PPP, not household-consumption PPP. Reference year: 2021. Availability varies by country and category. Category values are not the aggregate comparator above.
World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator PA.NUS.PRVT.PP (PPP conversion factor, households and NPISHs Final consumption expenditure, LCU per international $). Source: International Comparison Program (ICP), World Bank; Eurostat PPP Programme; OECD PPP Programme.
Questions
What does this calculator compare?
It compares country-level purchasing power. It shows how many units of one country’s local currency correspond approximately to an amount in another country’s local currency using household-consumption PPP.
Is this an exchange-rate calculator?
No. The result is a purchasing-power comparison, not a market conversion or current cash value.
What data does it use?
It uses World Bank World Development Indicators household and NPISH final-consumption PPP (WDI series PA.NUS.PRVT.PP) from the frozen 2021 production pack.
Why does it use 2021 data?
2021 is the ICP benchmark year in the frozen production pack. Later years in the same WDI series are largely extrapolations. This product uses the 2021 observations and does not inflate them forward.
Does this show exact personal cost of living?
No. The figures are national-average purchasing-power parities. They are not a personal household budget and not exact current basket prices for one user.
Does it compare cities?
No. Only country-level averages are available. City-to-city comparisons are not part of this product.
Why might a country be unavailable?
A country appears only when the frozen 2021 production pack contains a household-consumption PPP observation for it. Places without that observation cannot be compared, and missing values are not filled in.
What does the household-category comparison measure?
A separate form on this page compares purchasing power for one selected household category using ICP 2021 heading-level PPPs. It is a country-level category comparator, not a personal budget, shop-price list, or city cost-of-living database.
Is the category result the same as the general purchasing-power comparison?
No. The first comparison uses World Bank household-consumption PPP (WDI series PA.NUS.PRVT.PP). The category comparison uses a distinct ICP 2021 heading PPP pack. Category values are not aggregate PPP and are not substituted from the general comparison when a heading is missing.
What data does the category comparison use?
It uses World Bank International Comparison Program 2021 household-category PPPs from the frozen ICP 2021 production pack (vintage ICP20240804). The reference year is 2021. This product does not fetch live ICP or World Bank data.
Why might a household category be unavailable for a country pair?
A category comparison is shown only when the frozen ICP 2021 pack contains a heading PPP for both selected countries and the selected category. Coverage varies by country and heading. Missing cells are omitted; they are not filled from aggregate PPP, a price-level index, a neighbour country, or another year.
Are imputed ICP economies included?
No. Economies treated as imputed in the ICP programme are excluded from the category production pack. This product does not enable imputed observations to complete a comparison.
Is the category comparison an exchange-rate conversion?
No. Category PPP is a purchasing-power comparison for one household heading. It is not a market conversion, current cash value, or FX rate.
What does salary purchasing-power comparison mean?
It takes a salary amount in one country’s local currency, converts that amount to an annual figure using salary period arithmetic, compares purchasing power with 2021 World Bank household-consumption PPP, then expresses the result in a destination pay period. It is not a recommendation of what anyone should earn.
Is salary comparison an exchange-rate conversion?
No. The salary-period comparison uses the same purchasing-power parities as the amount comparison. It is not market conversion, current cash value, or a salary exchange rate.
Does this account for tax?
No. The salary amount is the amount you enter. Payroll deductions, income tax, and take-home pay are not applied.
Does it show what employers actually pay?
No. There is no occupation, wage-survey, or job-market dataset. The figure is a PPP composition of the amount you entered, not an expected or fair salary.
Why does a salary result still use 2021 data?
The country comparison uses the frozen 2021 household-consumption PPP pack. Salary period arithmetic does not change that reference year. The result is not a 2026 purchasing-power salary.