GSB 7.1 Standardlösung

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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

Consumer price index (Index base 2020 = 100)
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.

Show more information on methodology and data sources

Definition

The indicator consumer price index is reported for meat and meat products, ready-made meals, sweets, fruit, vegetables, soft drinks (excluding mineral water), mineral water, and food products & non-alcoholic beverages (as a whole) and is in each case defined as average percentage change in price in a certain year with reference to a base year.

Reference

According to the domestic concept, all spending made in Germany, also including the spending of foreign tourists, in addition to the spending of, for example, single households, married couples, families, or retired couples, are considered (Destatis 2024).

Data source

Federal Statistical Office (Destatis)

Calculation

  • Description: The consumer price index for Germany measures the average price development of all goods and services purchased by private households for consumption purposes compared to a defined base year. Consumption sectors (e.g. food products) and subsectors (e.g. vegetables, meat and meat products) are differentiated thereby. Additional information can be found under (Destatis 2024). Weightings are used to calculate the consumer price index (Destatis 2023). The consumer price index of the above-listed food groups for 2015 to 2023 is shown with 2020 (CPI=100) as base year. For the reporting of percentage changes of the prices between 2015 and 2023 we converted the data with base year 2020 to base year 2015.

Data quality

The consumer price index is calculated annually with reference to a defined base year (currently base year 2020). Comparisons with values from the previous years with another base year are thus only possible to a limited extent. Additional information relating to the data quality is summarized elsewhere (Destatis 2024).