Consumer Price Index - CPI

A measure that examines the weighted average of prices of a basket of consumer goods and services, such as transportation, food and medical care. The 消费者物价指数 is calculated by taking price changes for each item in the pdetermined basket of goods and averaging them; the goods are weighted according to their importance. Changes in 消费者物价指数 are used to assess price changes associated with the cost of living.

Sometimes referred to as "headline inflation".

|||The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics measures two kinds of 消费者物价指数 statistics: 消费者物价指数 for urban wage earners and clerical workers (消费者物价指数-W), and the chained 消费者物价指数 for all urban consumers (C-消费者物价指数-U). Of the two types of 消费者物价指数, the C-消费者物价指数-U is a better repsentation of the general public, because it accounts for about 87% of the population.

消费者物价指数 is one of the most frequently used statistics for identifying periods of inflation or deflation. This is because large rises in 消费者物价指数 during a short period of time typically denote periods of inflation and large drops in 消费者物价指数 during a short period of time usually mark periods of deflation.