Consumer Price Index Manual: Concepts and Methods 2020

The manual is available in the following languages. Please click on the link below to download.

Consumer Price Index Manual: Theory and Practice 2004

The manual is available in the following languages. You need a PDF reader such as Adobe Acrobat Reader to view the PDF file. You can also order a printed version here.

The table below provides links to the CPI Manual chapters. The documents in the first column are the final page proofs of the printed version of the Manual, and in the second columns, the revised/corrected version.

Chapter Title Corrections/Revisions as at 15.08.2010
- Foreward, Contents, Preface,Acknowledgements, Reader's Guide Preface corrected
1 An introduction to consumer price indices methodology Corrected
2 Uses of consumer price indices
3 Concepts and scope
4 Expenditure weights and their sources Corrected
5 Sampling Corrected
6 Price collection
7 Adjusting for quality change Revised
8 Item substitutiton, sample space and new products Revised
9 Calculating consumer price indices in practice Revised 16.11.12
10 Some special cases
11 Errors and bias Corrected
12 Organization and management Corrected
13 Publication, dissemination and user relations
14 The system of price statistics Corrected
15 Basic index number theory Corrected
16 Axiomatic and stochastic approaches to index number theory Corrected
17 The economic approach to index number theory: The single household case Corrected
18 The economic approach to index number theory: The many household case Corrected
19 Price indices using an artificial data set
20 Elementary indices Corrected
21 Quality change and hedonics Revised
22 The treatment of seasonal products Corrected
23 Durables and user costs Corrected
Glossary A glossary of main terms and annex to the glossary.
Erratum Mathematical changes
ANNEXES
1 Harmonized Indices of Consumer Prices (European Union) Corrected
2 Classification of individual consumption according to purpose (COICOP) - Extract United Nations
3 Resolution concerning consumer price indices adopted by the 17th International Conference of Labour Statisticians, November 2003
4 Spatial comparisons of consumer prices, purchasing power parities and the International Comparison Program Corrected
5 Bibliography Corrected
6 Index

Electronic Discussion Group: Call for comments and suggestions

This website is specifically dedicated to having an open and full discussion of the material that appears in the new CPI Manual published in July 2004. This important and comprehensive manual provides up-to-date guidance for national statistical offices and other agencies responsible for CPI construction, on the concepts, uses, methods and the underlying economic and statistical theory on which these are based, as well as on classifications, sources, and compilation techniques. It provides information on the analytical uses of the CPI and helps users to understand the processes involved in CPI calculation. Authored by seventeen CPI experts from national and international organizations and the academic world, it draws on national CPI experience and on recent developments in index number theory.

The purpose of the discussion group is to elicit comments and to promote discussion on specific topics in the CPI Manual. We are calling all interested groups, organisations and experts to send comments and suggestions on the CPI manual, both in terms of the specific issues addressed in this manual and on the layout and format of the manual.

Please send your comments and suggestions to the ILO Department of Statistics. Much as these comments will be taken into consideration in revising the electronic version of the manual, we cannot however assure that we will be able to give full consideration to all comments received.


Survey on the usefulness of the CPI Manual

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) Manual was published in 2004. It provides the theory and conceptual framework of the CPI and aims to give methodological and practical guidelines for the compilation of CPIs. The Inter-Secretariat Working Group on Price Statistics (IWGPS), which has overall responsibility for the revisions of the manual, has requested the ILO and the UNECE to conduct a worldwide survey on its' uses. The purpose of this survey was to obtain users' feedback on the manual for future revisions of the electronic version. This feedback was also used as input for the work on possible Supplementary Handbooks, as well as for future meetings on CPIs.

The questionnaire consists of 14 questions. Questions 1 - 9 concern your assessment of the CPI Manual. Questions 10 - 14 concern some specific issues in the compilation of CPI, where information about your current practice is kindly requested. Where appropriate please consult fellow compilers of your CPI or where you are a user, fellow users about the usefulness of the manual.

Electronic copies in English, French or Spanish can be obtained from the ILO Department of Statistics.

Any enquiries should be sent to Valentina Stoevska.

Summary results of the survey.


Update of the 2004 Consumer Price Index Manual