The OECD, in partnership with Eurostat, ROSSTAT  and CISSTAT, has calculated benchmark purchasing power parities (PPPs) for GDP and consumption for the year 2005 for 55 countries following a common methodology. The calculation covers the 30 member countries of the OECD, the 27 member states of the European Union, ten CIS countries, six Western Balkan countries and Israel. The results will be included into the forthcoming release of the world-wide comparison undertaken by the World Bank for the year 2005.