Discover Your Personalised Inflation Easily with Our New Interactive Tool

Have you ever wondered why the official inflation figures reported in the news do not quite align with the bills you pay or the price changes you have experienced in daily life? Do these figures seem to not fully reflect the changes in your actual living expenses? Let's explore the reasons behind these differences, and discover how the newly launched interactive tool by the Census and Statistics Department (C&SD) – the "Personalised Inflation Calculator" – can help uncover your unique inflation situation.

What is Inflation? What is Consumer Price Index?

Inflation refers to the overall increase in consumer prices over time, meaning you need to spend more money to purchase the same quality and quantity of consumer goods and services.

But how do we know how much prices have risen? The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is the key indicator used to measure inflation. It tracks pure price changes over time for a basket of consumer goods and services generally purchased by households (such as food, transport, utilities, and clothing), reflecting the average inflation experienced by consumers.

The inflation rate that people always hear about refers to the year-on-year rate of change calculated from the CPI. Both the Government and some private companies often refer to the rate of change of CPI when adjusting wages and reviewing various charges and allowances.

Why Does Your Personal Inflation Experience Deviate from the Official Figures?

Everyone's spending patterns are different. For instance, some people dine out frequently, some are keen on purchasing the latest tech gadgets, while others have long daily commutes incurring higher transport costs. Each person's proportion of personal spending across various consumer goods and services may differ from the average expenditure pattern of overall households used in compiling the official CPI.

C&SD compiles CPI(A), CPI(B), CPI(C), and Composite CPI for households in relatively low, medium, and relatively high expenditure ranges, as well as all households within these ranges respectively. However, these indices reflect the average inflation situation for households within each expenditure range, rather than the inflation experience based on your unique spending pattern. The price increases you experience may naturally differ from the official average figures.

Personalised Inflation Calculator: Obtain Your Personalised Inflation Rate with One Click

To help you better understand the actual impact of inflation on you, C&SD launched a new interactive tool – the "Personalised Inflation Calculator" on its website in September 2025.

This tool is simple and easy to use. Just enter your expenditure amount ($) or expenditure shares (%) on different categories (such as meals out and takeaway food, housing, and transport), and it will calculate your personalised inflation rate based on your spending patterns, allowing you to compare it with the official inflation rate over the past year.

Although the results from the "Personalised Inflation Calculator" are simulated data and not official statistics, they still serve as a valuable reference, helping you understand inflation scenarios that better reflect your unique spending habits and lifestyle, thereby enabling more effective expense planning.

Want to know your personalised inflation rate and how it differs from the average figures for overall households? Try the "Personalised Inflation Calculator" now! You are also welcome to visit the "Consumer Prices" thematic webpage to learn more about the CPI.

CHAN Chin-tang, Jason
Statistician
25 November 2025