Pay data, country by country
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France vs Italy

14% dearer than — France against Italy

France82.82025
Italy72.92025

On national price levels, France is 14% dearer than Italy. Both figures use the United States as 100.

Where the difference actually sits

A single number hides the interesting part. These are the categories Eurostat prices for both countries.

CategoryFranceItalyDifference
Overall consumption (incl. government-funded services)72.365.8 +10%
Food and non-alcoholic drinks110.1101.7 +8%
Bread and cereals112.5108.5 +4%
Meat131.7105.2 +25%
Fish110.694.4 +17%
Milk, cheese and eggs96.0105.0 -9%
Fruit and vegetables119.2103.3 +15%
Non-alcoholic drinks96.981.8 +18%
Alcoholic drinks102.383.9 +22%
Tobacco194.884.4 +131%
Clothing and footwear97.8106.9 -9%
Housing, water, electricity and fuel122.593.4 +31%
Furnishings and household equipment107.796.6 +11%
Health98.9116.6 -15%
Transport108.995.7 +14%
Communication82.285.7 -4%
Recreation and culture105.793.9 +13%
Education97.390.3 +8%
Restaurants and hotels110.0106.9 +3%

SOURCE·Eurostat — purchasing power parities (prc_ppp_ind)·Price level indices by consumption category, published on an EU27=100 basis and rebased here to US=100. CC BY 4.0.·REVIEWED AUG 2026

Before you use this to decide anything

  • These are national averages. Comparing two capital cities is a different question and this data cannot answer it.
  • Price level is only half of the decision. What matters is prices relative to what you would earn — see what the job pays in each country on PayLens.
  • The figures are indices, not prices. Nothing here is a quote for rent or groceries.

How the price level is worked out

  1. The World Bank publishes a purchasing power parity for household consumption — how much local currency buys the same basket as one US dollar — and the official market exchange rate for the same year.
  2. The price level is simply PPP ÷ exchange rate × 100. If a basket needs 1.50 New Zealand dollars per US dollar of purchasing power but the market hands you 1.65 New Zealand dollars for that dollar, New Zealand's prices sit at 1.50 ÷ 1.65 = 91% of the US level.
  3. Nothing is modelled, smoothed or estimated. You can reproduce every number on this site from two public figures.
  4. Where Eurostat also publishes a price level for the same country and year, the two are compared and the gap is printed — including when they disagree.

Full methodology →

SOURCE·World Bank — International Comparison Program·PPP conversion factor for household final consumption, and the official market exchange rate. CC BY 4.0.·REVIEWED AUG 2026

SOURCE·World Bank ICP PPPs + Eurostat price level indices·price levels derived as PPP ÷ exchange rate, see method·REVIEWED AUG 2026

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Published by

Amit Sharma

Auckland real-estate agent and marketer. Builds free, sourced data tools.