Inflation Explorer

The Inflation Explorer is an interactive tool that lets the user explore how prices of individual goods and services, and overall inflation, have changed over time. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is the most well-known indicator of inflation in Australia. It measures the percentage change in the price of a ‘basket’ of goods and services, including thousands of items that Australians typically purchase, sorted into 87 categories and 11 groups.
Consumer groups and services (CPI) comprises of 11 groups which are Alcohol and tobacco, Clothing and footwear, Communication, Education, Food and non-alcoholic beverages, Furnishings, household equipment and services, Health, Housing, Insurance and financial services, Recreation and culture and Transport

Your Shopping Basket

Start exploring items you might put in your own shopping basket and compare how inflation has changed over time.

Follow steps 1, 2 and 3 below.

  1. Choose up to three items to compare from the drop-down list below

Disclaimer

The results produced by the Inflation Explorer are intended as an education tool only and should not be regarded as ‘official’ Reserve Bank calculations. While every effort has been made by the Bank to ensure that the data and formulae used to generate the results are accurate, the Bank accepts no liability or responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of the resulting calculations and recommends that users exercise their own care and judgment with respect to the Inflation Explorer's use.

Related Information

User Guides

Inflation Explorer – How to Use It

Learn more about how to use the Inflation Explorer and how to read the graph.

Download 250KB

Learning Activities

Exploring Inflation

Work through this Activity to investigate interesting examples of inflation developments and trends.

Download 138KB

Data Source

The data used in the Inflation Explorer are from the Consumer Price Index (CPI) release published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). The data are original (non-seasonally adjusted).

Timing of Updates

The Inflation Explorer is updated with the latest calendar year of data on the day after each December quarter CPI release. The expected release dates of ABS data are shown on the ABS Release Calendar.

Calculation

Inflation Calculator

The Inflation Calculator performs the same calculations as the Inflation Explorer but for the overall CPI basket only. It can be used to examine periods earlier than accessed in the Inflation Explorer (prior to 1966), and enables comparisons of quarterly and financial year time periods.

Explainers

Inflation and its Measurement

Describes how inflation is measured, explains how different indicators of underlying inflation are calculated, and outlines some of the limitations of using the Consumer Price Index.

Download 169KB

Australia's Inflation Target

Describes the inflation target, why the Reserve Bank targets inflation and how the target works.

Download 120KB

Causes of Inflation

Describes what inflation is and the main causes of changes in the inflation rate.

Download 198KB