Sources and last checked

The back page of a magazine is where it shows its working. Every number in this issue comes from a source in the table below, and the tag tells you how much weight to give it: official is a government or university page, media is a news report, community is an agency blog or forum, and unverified means we found it but could not confirm it. Dates are the days we last looked.

How we check

For each figure we open the page it comes from, copy the number, and write down the date and a tag. Where we could read only a news summary of a ministry file, we say so and do not present it as the original. Where a page was closed to us, such as Reddit, the full Financial Times article, or the attachments to ministry releases, we say that too, and we do not quote text we have not read. If two sources disagree, we print both and tell you which one we could not confirm. We will not give a number we cannot source, and some pages in this issue simply say so.

A figure without a date and a tag is not a figure we publish.

The tags work as a rule of thumb. Lean on official pages for rules, but read them next to the date. Treat media reports as a good pointer to the number, and go to the original when money or a visa depends on it. Treat community posts as people describing what happened to them. Treat unverified as a reason to ask before you act.

When we look again

Rules and prices move on a calendar, so we re-check on one. This is the schedule we work to. If a date passes and a figure on the page has not changed, it means we looked and found it the same.

If a number here is wrong or out of date, tell us on WhatsApp through the contact link on this site, and we will fix it and update the date.

Sources table