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Consumer price index
The consumer price index (CPI) measures the ‘average price development of all goods and services purchased by private households for consumption purposes’ (Destatis 2024). The annual change of the consumer price index (compared to the previous year) is colloquially referred to as rate of price increase or inflation rate, respectively. Due to the fact that food prices can influence the purchasing behaviour, in particular of people who are financially worse off (Kersting et al. 2007; Rao et al. 2013), the consumer price index is shown for selected food groups, which are described in association with the risk of type 2 diabetes (Eyles et al. 2012; Schwingshackl et al. 2017). To classify the results, the consumer price index for all food products and non-alcoholic beverages as a whole as well as for mineral water are also reported.
Key messages
- Since 2015, the highest price increases for food products and non-alcoholic beverages were observed in 2022 and 2023.
- Particularly for vegetables and meat and meat products, a significant price increase in recent years has been observed.
Trend
| Category | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Soft drinks | 91.1 | 92.0 | 92.1 | 94.9 | 96.3 | 100 | 103.4 | 108.3 | 120.6 |
| Fruits | 87.9 | 91.3 | 93.2 | 96.6 | 93.5 | 100 | 101.6 | 105.7 | 114.4 |
| Meat and meat products | 87.8 | 88.1 | 90.0 | 91.6 | 94.3 | 100 | 102.8 | 117.7 | 127.5 |
| Vegetables | 89.9 | 93.2 | 93.4 | 93.8 | 99.7 | 100 | 104.2 | 116.7 | 132.2 |
| Mineral water | 95.6 | 95.9 | 96.7 | 97.7 | 99.8 | 100 | 102.2 | 109.5 | 120.9 |
| Food & non-alcoholic beverages | 91.3 | 92.1 | 94.6 | 96.8 | 97.9 | 100 | 103.1 | 116.0 | 130.3 |
| Sweets | 100.0 | 100.0 | 99.7 | 99.8 | 99.4 | 100 | 103.1 | 106.5 | 119.5 |
| Ready-made meals | 100.5 | 100.7 | 100.3 | 100.3 | 101.2 | 100 | 100.7 | 105.8 | 118.4 |
Result
The consumer price index for food products and non-alcoholic beverages increased by 30.3% between 2020 and 2023. The price increase for vegetables (+32.2%) and meat and meat products (+27.5%) is higher compared to fruit (+14.4%), ready-made meals (+18.4%), sweets (+19.8%), soft drinks (+20.6%), and mineral water (+20.9%). In comparison with the increase between 2015 and 2020 (9.5%) the prices for food products and non-alcoholic beverages increased more drastically since 2020.
Conclusion
A continuous price increase in the last years, especially last 3 years, is noticeable for all of the observed food. For all food products (except meat and meat products) the price increase was highest in 2023. A comparatively small increase in price can be observed for sweets and ready-made meals since 2015, whose increased consumption is associated with an increased risk for type 2 diabetes and other noncommunicable diseases. Food, such as fruit and vegetables, whose consumption on a regular basis is described to be protective with respect to type 2 diabetes and some other noncommunicable diseases show a significant price increase since 2015. A change to the food taxation (Itria et al. 2021; Niebylski et al. 2015; Tönnies et al. 2021) could be considered as public health measure, in order to promote a diet with health-enhancing food for the entire population, regardless of the available income.