Raise vs Inflation
Did your raise beat inflation? Compare in real (after-inflation) terms using Eurostat HICP.
Selector shows only countries with at least two bundled HICP data points.
Enter both salaries and select two years.
How real pay change is calculated
A pay rise is a nominal change. To estimate whether it increased purchasing power, this tool deflates the new salary by the change in the selected country's all-items Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP).
Formula and example
Real change is calculated as (new salary ÷ old salary) ÷ (new HICP index ÷ old HICP index) − 1. This ratio method compounds the two changes correctly; simply subtracting the inflation percentage from the raise is only an approximation.
If pay rises from €3,000 to €3,300, the nominal increase is 10%. If the price index rises by 6% over the same period, the estimated real increase is 1.10 ÷ 1.06 − 1, or about 3.8%. A negative result means the new pay buys less of the national reference basket than the old pay did.
Choosing the period
Use years that match the salary dates as closely as possible. The annual HICP observations shown here describe average price movement over a standard consumer basket and are designed for comparison across European countries.
Important limitations
- National all-items HICP is not a personal cost-of-living index; housing, energy and family spending weights differ.
- The result excludes tax-bracket changes, bonuses, benefits and working-hours changes.
- Recent periods may be unavailable until Eurostat publishes a complete annual observation.
Primary source: Eurostat HICP annual data (prc_hicp_aind).
Frequently asked questions
How is real change computed?
Real change = (new / old) / (HICP_new / HICP_old) − 1. It removes the effect of consumer price inflation between the two years.
Where does the HICP come from?
Eurostat's Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP), a monthly index designed for cross-country comparability.
Why don't I see this year's data?
Eurostat publishes with a lag. We only show years present in the country's HICP series.