How is inflation measured? The basket
An inflation rate does not measure the price of one thing. It measures the price of a shopping trip. For that the statistical office keeps a basket: a list of what the households of a country spend their money on, split into thirteen groups. The harmonised consumer price index has been published since March 1997 and covers the time from January 1996 onwards.
Every group carries a weight, which is its share of total household spending. The weights come from national accounts data, complemented with the household budget survey, sectoral statistics and other sources. They are published once a year, with the release of the January data.
What decides is not how far a price moved but how large the share behind it is. Five percent on a fifth of the basket weighs exactly as much as fifty percent on a fiftieth. Both lift the rate by one percentage point.
The largest group is Transport at 15.6 % of the basket. It got +0.9 % dearer, which is 0.14 percentage points of a total rate of +2.13 %.
Group rates of 2025, official weights of 2025.
The thirteen spending groups are published for Germany and the euro area only. What you see here is the euro area.
Questions people ask
What is the basket of goods?
A list of what the households of a country spend their money on, split into thirteen groups. Each group carries the share it has of total spending.
Who sets the weights, and how often?
The statistical offices. The weights come from national accounts data, complemented with the household budget survey and other statistics, and are published once a year with the January figures.
Is the inflation rate the average of the thirteen group rates?
No. Each group enters with its weight. A small group with a large price jump moves the total less than a large group with a small one.
Source: Eurostat, HICP monthly data (index), prc_hicp_minr, ECOICOP ver. 2, Euro area (20 countries), as of 2026-08, retrieved 2026-10-08 · Eurostat, HICP item weights, prc_hicp_iw, ECOICOP ver. 2, Euro area (20 countries), as of 2026, retrieved 2026-10-08 · Eurostat, Harmonised index of consumer prices (HICP) (prc_hicp), metadata, section 3.2 Classification system, as of 2026-10-08, retrieved 2026-10-08 · Eurostat, Information on data, Harmonised Indices of Consumer Prices (HICP), as of 2026-10-08, retrieved 2026-10-08 · Eurostat, Questions & Answers on the improvements in the HICP effective January 2026, question 7, as of 2026-10-08, retrieved 2026-10-08
The thirteen groups with their share, their own rate, and the contribution each one makes to the total.
The calculator, the comparison and the Beam stay free.
Education, not advice. Disclaimer