Croatia
Official title
Cost of Living Index.
Scope
The index is computed and published monthly. The index covers
non-agricultural households i.e. worker's and pensioner's
households. Geographical coverage of the index is limited to the
urban areas.
Official base
Previous year = 100. The index is re-based at the beginning of
each year. The base period of the index changes each year.
Sources of weights
The weights of the index were derived from the Household Budget
Survey conducted in Croatia in 1987. The sample covered
approximately 1,000 households distributed over the whole country.
As the base period of the index differs from the reference period
of the weights, they (weights) are corrected at the beginning of
each year by the price change from the previous year.
Weights and composition
| Major groups | Number of items | Weights | Approx. No. of
price quotation
|
| Food and non-alcoholic beverages | 122 | 39.76 | ...
|
| Alcoholic beverages and tobacco | 10 | 10.98 | ...
|
| Clothing and footwear | 82 | 11.25 | ...
|
| Housing, water, electricity | 32 | 9.66 | ...
|
| Furnishing and household equipment | 65 | 6.08 | ...
|
| Medical and pharmaceutical products | 11 | 0.81 | ...
|
| Transport | 32 | 8.23 | ...
|
| Communications | 8 | 0.80 | ...
|
| Recreation and culture | 36 | 8.03 | ...
|
| Education | 2 | 0.32 | ...
|
| Catering services | 2 | 0.36 | ...
|
| Miscellaneous goods and services | 35 | 3.72 | ...
|
| Total | 437 | 100.0 | 17,000
|
Classification is adapted to the SNA Classification of Household
Final Consumption expenditure.
Household consumption expenditure
Household consumption expenditure refers to all financial
spending for the purchase of consumption goods and services.
Second hand purchases, income in kind, life insurance, gifts and
remittances are not included. Contribution to health insurance
and pension funds, income and other direct taxes are not
included.
Sample selection
Price data are collected in 12 towns selected according to their
geographical position, number of inhabitants, share in
production, retail trade and tourism. The outlets are chosen on
the basis of their share in the retail turnover of particular
good or service. The items are selected according to their
significance for personal consumption and their share in the
retail trade turnover.
Method of data collection
Prices are collected monthly, between 13th and 21st day of the
month, by personal visits of approximately 1,500 outlets in 12
urban settlements. Prices of manufactured products and services
are observed once a month while prices of agricultural products are
observed twice a month.
Discounts, sale prices, free-market prices for items which also
have official prices, black market prices, hire-purchases and
second-hand prices, as well prices of imported goods are not taken
into consideration in price collection and calculation of average
prices.
Housing
Rent quotations are collected monthly in 12 cities. The housing
index includes guaranteed rent
which refers to dwellings in
social ownership and compensation paid by homeowners for regular
maintaining of the dwelling and the building. Owner occupied
housing is not included in the index.
Specification of varieties
The specifications are not very detailed, but they describe the
unit and quality of the item. Price collectors, by themselves,
choose the variety in the outlet and collect data for that
particular variety during the year.
Substitution, quality changes
As far as possible, goods of exactly the same quality are priced
each month. If a given type or quality disappears from the
market, the last observed price is carried forward for the next
two months and in the third month a price for a new type is
included into computation. Quality adjustment is not applied.
Appearance of new products and disappearance of old products are
taken into account in annual updating of the list.
Seasonal items
When seasonal items are temporarily not available the last
recorded price is carried forward until a price can once again be
obtained.
Computation
The index is computed according to the chained Laspeyres formula,
as a weighted arithmetic average with a fixed base, using weights
corresponding to the base period. Previous year is the price
reference period.
Average monthly prices for each item for each of the 12 cities
are computed as a simple arithmetic mean of all collected prices
in the city. Average monthly prices for the country are computed
as a weighted arithmetic mean of the average prices for cities.
Annual average prices are computed as a simple arithmetic mean of
12 monthly averages.
Individual item indexes are calculated by dividing the average
prices in current month with the annual average prices in the
previous year. The annual indexes are calculated as arithmetic
average of 12 monthly indexes.
Other information
New weights (base 1998) will be introduced in the year 2000.
Organisation and publication
The Central Bureau of Statistics
Statistical Yearbook
,
Statistical Report Prices and Cost of Living
On Internet website: http://www.dzs.hr