Barbados: Price level index (Households and NPISHs Final consumption expenditure)

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2021, Barbados' price level index (Households and NPISHs Final consumption expenditure) fell 2.06 on 2020 (from 133.92 to 131.87).

Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1991 to 2020), the average change was +1.27 and a typical year strayed about 2.82 from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 1.2 standard deviations below that average, so it was larger than a typical year, though not out of the range seen before.

On record, the biggest yearly rise was 6.86 in 2011 and the biggest yearly fall was 3.78 in 2015. The numbers show how large and when, not why; for the cause, look at what happened in that country in those years.

From 2012 to 2021 the straight-line trend is upward, about 1.41 a year. A straight line explains 71% of the movement over 10 observed years.

Worked out from the yearly values above. How the checks work: standard deviation, z-scores and straight-line trends.

How it compares

In 2021, Barbados had the 3rd highest value of the 24 economies reporting that year. Higher is not always better: for some indicators the lowest value is the one to aim for. See the full ranking.

Closest to Barbados in the 2021 ranking

• Bermuda — 1st of 24: 144.14
• Cayman Islands — 2nd of 24: 140.1
• Turks and Caicos Islands — 4th of 24: 131.72
• New Caledonia — 5th of 24: 115.08
• Guam — 6th of 24: 111.21

What this measures

The price level index (PLI) is the ratio of a purchasing power parity (PPP) conversion factor to the corresponding market exchange rate between two countries, expressed relative to a base country that is set equal to 100. For this series the base country is the United States. It provides a measure of the differences in price level between the country and the United States by indicating the number of units of the common currency (US dollars) needed to buy the same volume of the aggregation level in each country. This indicator provides a measure of the differences in the price levels of countries at the level of Households and NPISHs final consumption expenditure.

Limitations: Global PPP estimates underlying this indicator are produced by the ICP Global Office and regional implementing agencies, based on data supplied by the national implementing agencies in the participating economies, and in accordance with the methodology recommended by the ICP Technical Advisory Group and approved by the ICP Governing Board. As such, these results are not produced by participating economies as part of their national official statistics. Price level index are not recommended to use as a precise measure to establish strict rankings of countries.

Regional and income-group figures are computed by the World Bank as a no aggregation provided for this indicator in wdi..

All 32 values

Price level index (Households and NPISHs Final consumption expenditure) in nearby economies

• Antigua and Barbuda — 81.17 (2025)
• Argentina — 45.25 (2021)
• Aruba — 84.55 (2021)
• Bahamas, The — 108.96 (2025)
• Belize — 54.38 (2025)
• Bolivia — 39.06 (2025)
• Brazil — 46.2 (2025)
• Cayman Islands — 140.1 (2021)
• Chile

More economic policy & debt data for Barbados

• GDP (current US$) — US$8.02 billion (2025)
• GDP (current LCU) — 16.03 billion (2025)
• GDP (constant 2015 US$) — US$6.5 billion (2025)
• GDP (constant LCU) — 15.34 billion (2025)
• GDP per capita (current US$) — US$28,365 (2025)
• GDP per capita (current LCU) — 56,730 (2025)
• GDP per capita (constant 2015 US$) — US$23,014 (2025)
• GDP per capita (constant LCU) — 54,263 (2025)
• GNI (current US$) — US$7.69 billion (2025)
• GNI (current LCU) — 15.38 billion (2025)
• GNI per capita (current LCU) — 54,417 (2025)

Reading data like this

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Questions people ask

What is Barbados's price level index (Households and NPISHs Final consumption expenditure)?

131.87 in 2021, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1990?

It is up 37.81% from 95.68 in 1990 (1.04% a year on average, compounded). The highest value was 133.92 in 2020 and the lowest 92.73 in 2004.

How does Barbados rank?

3rd highest of 24 economies with data for 2021.

Is the latest change in price level index (Households and NPISHs Final consumption expenditure) unusual for Barbados?

In 2021, Barbados' price level index (Households and NPISHs Final consumption expenditure) fell 2.06 on 2020 (from 133.92 to 131.87). Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1991 to 2020), the average change was +1.27 and a typical year strayed about 2.82 from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 1.2 standard deviations below that average, so it was larger than a typical year, though not out of the range seen before.

Source

World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator PA.NUS.PRVT.PLI, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: World Development Indicators, World Bank (WB), uri: https://databank.worldbank.org/source/world-development-indicators, publisher: World Development Indicators Figures are fetched from the World Bank API and refreshed monthly; see the series on data.worldbank.org. The full definition and method are in the World Bank's metadata glossary. Comparisons use the same World Bank release.

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