Inflation measures for population subgroups

In the first half of 2014, after a sharp slowdown in 2013, Italian inflation continued to decline in a generalized way across distinct population subgroups, although with different intensities.

In more details, in the second quarter of 2014, inflation rates, measured by Harmonized Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) for population subgroups, varied in a range between 0.1% of the first subgroup (i.e. the 20% of those with the lowest equivalent expenditure) and 0.6% of the last subgroup (the 20% of population with the highest equivalent expenditure). In the same period, headline inflation, as measured by HICP was 0.4% .

In the second quarter of 2014, the inflation rate for the households with the lower level of expenditure declined to 0.1% as compared to 0.4% in the first quarter of the year. Main upward contribution to the inflation for this subgroup of population came from price movements for Services related to housing, whose effect was largely offset by the development of prices of Unprocessed food, Energy and Services related to communication.

At the opposite, in the same time interval, the inflation rate for the last subgroup of households showed a slight increase to 0.6%, from 0.5%.

The rise of price of Non-energy industrial goods was the largest contributor to the inflation rate for households with the higher level of expenditure. Other upward contribution derived by the increase of prices of Services related to recreation, including repairs and personal care and the rise of prices of Services related to transport. On the other hand, the decline of prices of Unprocessed food and Energy provided only comparatively small downward contributions, due to the relatively lower weights that those expenditures have in the budget of this population subgroup.

As for the HICP referred to the population as a whole, the weights used for the compilation of the indices for population subgroups are annually updated. As compared to 2013, in 2014 the weights of Food and of Services related to housing exhibited a moderate increase for all the subgroups of households, against a generalized decrease of the weights of Energy.