Inflation Rates
CPI
Inflation Info
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10.49% (Sep 2013)
2.4% (Jun 2013)
1.1% (Sep 2013)
1.4% (Sep 2013)
1.09% (Sep 2013)
0.89% (Sep 2013)
0.9% (Sep 2013)
0.9% (Aug 2013)
1.4% (Sep 2013)
6.5% (Aug 2013)
-0.1% (Sep 2013)
2.7% (Sep 2013)
1.518% (Aug 2013)

How to calculate inflation rate

Because inflation in simple terms is defined as the increase in prices or the purchasing power of money the most common way to calculate the inflation rate is by recording the prices of goods and services over the years (called a Price Index), take a base year and then determine the percentage rate changes of those prices over the years. There are different Price Indices that can be used, the most popular are:
•Consumer Price Index (CPI) – measure the price of a selection of goods and services for a typical consumer.
•Commodity Price Index – measure the price of a selection of commodities with. It is a weighted index (in other words, some commodities are more important than others in determining price changes).
•Cost of Living Index (COLI) – measure the cost to maintain a constant standard of living. In other words, what would it cost you from year to year to live exactly the same.
•Producer Price Index (PPI) – measures the prices for all goods and services at the wholesale level. It is like the consumer price index but it is measuring the prices the producers have to pay.
•GDP Deflator – measures the prices of all goods and services (GDP).

The price index on its own does not give the inflation rate but it can be used to calculate the inflation rate. Let's use the Consumer Price Index as an example as is the most often used index to calculate the inflation rate. An example of how this works is below. Keep in mind that although I have simplified the process by using only 1 item in the basket of goods the process of calculating the inflation rate is the same.

What you need to know first
•The CPI has a base year that everything gets compared to. Let’s say it is the year 2000 for our example.
•Every month a basket of goods that is typical of many consumers is "purchased". For our example let's pretend that there is only 1 item in the basket, a loaf of bread. In reality it contains many more items.

Calculating the CPI Index
•Let's say that in 2000 the basket of goods (which is 1 loaf of bread in our example) costs $1.00. This becomes our base year and our index now has the year 2000 with an index value of 100.
•In 2001 the same basket of goods now costs $1.25. Now in our Price Index we have the year 2001 with a value of 125.
•In 2002 the same basket of goods now costs $1.31. Now in our Price Index we have the year 2002 with a value of 131.
•We do this every year and come up with a Consumer Price Index that looks something like: Year - Value