About the data
Where does the data come from?
The data is manually collected and updated from the best source available.
Mostly it is sourced from the website of the relevant national parliament, other government sources or media articles.
Official government sources are always preferred where possible.
Salary ($US) data is calculated by converting local salaries to US dollars using XE Rates. Currency exchange rates are subject to sudden and significant fluctuations at any time, meaning $US salary values should be considered an estimate only. Currency exchange rates are updated regularly.
Exchange rates last updated: 18 March 2024.
HOW OFTEN IS THE DATA UPDATED?
Salary data is updated irregularly. Because of the huge variations in the way salary data is published, each salary must be sourced and verified manually.
I will try to update salaries at least once every 12 months.
If you see a salary you think is out of date, please submit new data.
Does the salary data include expenses and allowances?
In short, no.
Wherever possible, the salaries listed on this website are base salaries only.
Gathering data about political salaries is difficult enough, even before attempting to find out what work expenses are available in each country.
Political expenses and allowances vary significantly from country to country, making it tricky to usefully compare political salaries like-for-like.
For example, many politicians are provided with housing, travel or daily expense allowances but it is not always clear if those payments are genuine reimbursements for out-of-pocket expenses or merely an unofficial salary top-up.
In some countries, particularly countries in South America, workers are traditionally paid a ’13th’ monthly salary at the end of the year. The 13th monthly salary is not included in our base salary calculations.
For the reasons above, the ‘base’ salary is not necessarily a perfect measure of a politician’s true income. However, it is the best universal benchmark available when comparing salaries across national borders.
Why are some countries missing?
Unfortunately, some governments aren’t keen to reveal how much politicians are paid.
It has been a lot easier to find credible salary data for politicians in some parts of the world than in others. As a result, I acknowledge there are significant data holes across the globe, particularly for Africa. I am working to fill in those holes as best as I can.
If you want to help me fill in the data gaps, you can submit new data.
I am particularly grateful for any help finding political salaries in Africa, Asia and South America (with credible data sources).
How accurate is the data?
At the time of writing, this appears to be the only place on the internet attempting to compile political salaries into one big dataset.
However, there will almost certainly be some inaccuracies.
The two main issues are likely to be:
- salary changes that have not yet been updated on this website.
- salary data captured from inaccurate media reports.
That’s why we have added data accuracy ratings.
What do the data accuracy ratings mean?
- High – Data from official government sources
- Medium – Data from media articles and other non-government sources (high likelihood of accuracy)
- Low – Data from media articles and other non-government sources (low likelihood of accuracy)
We always seek to use official government sources for salary data, where available.
Media reports are used for salary data where no official source can be found.
Is it fair to compare nominal salaries across the globe?
Probably not.
Politicians in countries with high average incomes and high living costs are, on the whole, likely to be paid higher salaries than politicians in lower-income countries.
A fairer comparison of politicians’ salaries across the globe should take into account the spending power those salaries have in their respective countries.
That’s why you can also view politicians’ salaries weighted against GDP per capita in their home country (hit the ‘SEE AS % GDP PER CAPITA’ button on the top-right of the salary map).
GDP per capita – adjusted for purchasing power parity (PPP) – is a measure often used by economists when comparing monetary values across the globe. It serves as a proxy for average income, giving us a better idea of whether they are ‘overpaid’ or ‘underpaid’ when compared to their international counterparts.
Comparing political salaries against GDP per capita isn’t a perfect way of measuring how well-paid politicians are, but it’s the best way we’ve got.
GDP per capita (PPP) values are sourced from the World Bank.
GDP per capita data last updated: 19 July 2022.