EUROSTAT-OECD Methodological manual on purchasing power parities (PPPs)

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For the last thirty years, Eurostat and the OECD have worked together comparing the price and volume levels of the GDPs of EU member states and OECD member countries. The comparisons are made with purchasing power parities or PPPs and the common programme is called the “Eurostat-OECD PPP Programme”. The Eurostat-OECD Methodological Manual on Purchasing Power Parities describes the organisation of the work and the data collection, validation and calculation methods as applied for the reference year 2011. Finally, the manual looks ahead at future developments in key areas such as health services and the further integration of PPP and CPI data collection. This second edition, published in 2012, updates and replaces the first version of the manual published in 2006.

The manual has three aims: first, to explain to those engaged directly in the Programme – that is, to practitioners in Eurostat, the OECD and the national statistical institutes of participating countries – the why, the how and the when of the international price and volume comparisons of GDP organised by Eurostat and the OECD; second, to enable these practitioners to brief their senior management and significant users - such as politicians, journalists, academics and the like – on the why and how of the Programme and, more importantly, to advise them on the use and interpretation of comparison results; and third, to provide a point of reference accessible to teachers, students and other members of the general public interested in PPPs and related statistics.