Personal price index calculator

Consumer price index expresses the change in the prices of consumer goods and services. The price movements of more than 600 goods and services are followed monthly and a price index is calculated for each of them. The consumer price index is a weighted average of the price indices for all these more than 600 types of goods and services.

The change in a price index does not only depend on how the prices change. Another important factor is the weights of individual goods or services with which they are included into the entire price index. The weights of the consumer price index used by Statistics Estonia apply to the average consumer and correspond to the average expenditure structure of the Estonian population. The change in the official consumer price index calculated in this way is an important indicator for economic and monetary policy.

As the average consumer exists only in theory, the change in the consumer price index cannot be directly transferred to the personal situation of each consumer. For instance, if you live in a house without central heating, you do not spend money on heat energy, although the weight of heat energy in the consumer price index is rather big. The extent to which an individual household is affected by the price changes of different goods and services depends very much on what they buy. The question is, how much would the change in a personal price index deviate from the change in the official consumer price index?

The personal price index calculator enables to see the impact of weights on the index. This is an experimental consumer price index in which you can change the expenditure weights of some specific goods and services using sliders. A graph is then displayed showing how the change in weights impacts the entire price index.

Note: It is required to use a browser that supports SVG graphics! In case of Internet Explorer at least version 9 is required.