Pay data, country by country
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Sweden vs France

9% dearer than — Sweden against France

Sweden90.52025
France82.82025

On national price levels, Sweden is 9% dearer than France. 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.

CategorySwedenFranceDifference
Overall consumption (incl. government-funded services)82.472.3 +14%
Food and non-alcoholic drinks106.4110.1 -3%
Bread and cereals108.6112.5 -3%
Meat106.2131.7 -19%
Fish100.9110.6 -9%
Milk, cheese and eggs100.896.0 +5%
Fruit and vegetables115.7119.2 -3%
Non-alcoholic drinks104.796.9 +8%
Alcoholic drinks145.8102.3 +43%
Tobacco104.0194.8 -47%
Clothing and footwear120.697.8 +23%
Housing, water, electricity and fuel112.0122.5 -9%
Furnishings and household equipment109.4107.7 +2%
Health155.898.9 +58%
Transport111.1108.9 +2%
Communication143.182.2 +74%
Recreation and culture118.0105.7 +12%
Education161.897.3 +66%
Restaurants and hotels116.7110.0 +6%

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.