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Consumer price indices (CPI)
Consumer price indices have a long history in official statistics. They measure the erosion of living standards through price inflation and are probably the best known economic statistics among the media and general public.
Definition
Consumer price indices measure the change in the prices of a basket of goods and services that are typically purchased by specific groups of households. For the indices in these tables, the groups of households have been broadly defined and cover virtually all households except for "institutional” households – prisons and military barracks for example – and, in some countries, households in the highest income group.
The index for food covers food and non-alcoholic beverages but excludes purchases in restaurants. The index for energy is intended to cover all forms of energy, including fuels for motor vehicles, heating and other household uses.
Comparability
There are a number of differences in the ways that these indices are calculated. The most important ones concern the treatment of dwelling costs, adjustments for changes in the quality of goods and services, the frequency with which the basket weights are updated and the index formulae used. In addition, there are practical difficulties in measuring consumer prices in countries experiencing very high inflation – such as Hungary, Mexico and Turkey during the period considered here.
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Long-term trends For most OECD countries, consumer price indices have grown only moderately since 1992, with inflation lower in the latter part of the period compared with the years up to 1995. Over the period as a whole, inflation has been exceptionally low in Japan, averaging less than 1% per year but quite substantial in Greece, Mexico, Turkey and the four recent member countries in Central Europe – Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovak Republic. As regards the five non-member economies shown, CPIs have risen sharply since 1992 in Brazil, India, Russian Federation and South Africa. In China, however, prices rose sharply up to 1996, but since then have either fallen or increased only moderately. Food and energy are shown separately because they are important items in the consumer price indices of all countries and because their price movements tend to be more volatile than other goods and services. Food prices have risen over the period by less than total consumer prices, and increases have been moderate in most of the European Union countries. However, substantial increases occurred in 2001 and, except in Europe, between 1996 and 1998. Energy prices have been rather volatile; for example they rose over 10% in 2000 and 2005 but actually fell in 1998 and 2002. Over the period as whole, energy prices have risen faster that the total consumer price indices. |
Source
- OECD (2006), Main Economic Indicators, OECD, Paris.
Further information
Analytical publications
- Brook, A.M. et al. (2004), Oil Price Developments: Drivers, Economic Consequences and Policy Responses, OECD Economics Department Working Papers, No. 412, OECD, Paris.
- OECD (2007), OECD Economic Outlook: December No. 80 – Volume 2006 Issue 2, OECD, Paris.
Methodological publications
- OECD (1999), Main Economic Indicators: July Volume 1999 Issue 7, OECD, Paris.
- OECD (2002), "Comparative Methodological Analysis: Consumer and Producer Price Indices”, Main Economic Indicators, Volume 2002, Supplement 2, OECD, Paris.
- ILO, IMF, OECD, Eurostat, World Bank (2004), Consumer Price Index Manual: Theory and Practice, ILO, Geneva.
Websites
- OECD Main Economic Indicators, www.oecd.org/std/mei.
| Texts | |
| • | Indicator web page |
| • | Indicator in PDF |
| Tables (xls) | |
| • | CPI: all items |
| • | CPI: food |
| • | CPI: energy |
| Graphics | |
| • | CPI: all items |
| • | CPI: food |
| • | CPI: energy |
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