Description

The Harmonized Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) provides a common measurement of inflation that facilitates carrying out international comparisons. It is obtained as a result of homogenising the most significant methodological aspects of each one of the Consumer Price Indices from each one of the member states of the European Union (EU) to make them comparable.

The HICP of each country covers the divisions that exceed one per thousand of the total expense of the national shopping basket.

Differences between the HICP and the CPI

In Spain, the weighting of some categories are not totally included in the HICP. This occurs with insurance for which only costs linked to net premiums are considered or cars from which costs corresponding to sales between consumers are eliminated. As a result of these exclusions, the total weighting eliminated from the Spanish CPI structure is around 2.8%.

On the other hand, the HICP covers the consumption expenses that all households make in each EU member state. The adaptation of the HICP to this criteria with the national CPI implies that expenses from visiting foreigners must be included as well as those that residents in group households incur and exclude the costs made by Spaniards outside the country. As a result of this change in the coverage of the population, the total added weighting with respect to the Spanish CPI structure is around 7%.

HICP groups and weightings

The weightings of the 12 HICP groups and their comparison with the 12 CPI Spain base 2011 groups for 2012 are: