Guides · 3 published
Which number should I use?
Official statistics are honest and still easy to misread: two figures with similar names can divide by different things. These guides say which number answers which question — and name the mistakes to avoid, including the ones we have made and fixed ourselves.
Comparing salaries between countries — which tax number do I use?
Two official OECD tax figures look interchangeable and are not: one is measured against your gross salary, the other against your employer’s total cost. Using the wrong one misstates every country by the employer’s share — a mistake we made ourselves, twice.
Why do the wages on this site say PPP — and can I compare them with GDP?
Wages on this site are converted at purchasing power parity — what money buys locally — while GDP per capita uses market exchange rates. Subtracting one from the other compares two different dollars, and the page will not stop you unless it says so.
Does a high house price index mean an expensive country?
A house price index of 167 does not mean houses cost more there than where the index reads 120. It means prices moved more since 2015. A cheap country with a hot decade outranks an expensive one that stood still — the opposite of what the number seems to say.