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The race to be Europe's most expensive country

Race · 7 Nov 2026

Bar chart race of price levels, with the US at 100, 1995 to 2025, for 14 Western European countries. Switzerland, Denmark, Norway and Iceland, in gold, swap the lead. Iceland tops the field in 2007 at 168, falls to last at 99 in 2009 after its banks collapse, and passes Switzerland in 2025 to end first at 118.

Iceland went from Western Europe's priciest country to its cheapest in two years.

Its price level stood at 168 in 2007, with the US at 100. When its banks collapsed in 2008 the krona crashed, and by 2009 it was the cheapest of these 14.

As the krona recovered it climbed back to first place in 2017. In 2025 it is at 118, above Switzerland at 112.

Source: World Bank (ICP), 2025