Perceived inflation, measured inflation: are there differences between categories of households?

At the overall level, the inflation perceived by households, measured in the monthly business surveys, is rather in line with the inflation calculated by the consumer price index (CPI). In particular, it increased continuously from 2015 to the end of 2018.

When broken down by household category, it appears that the opinion of the 50% lowest-income households on price trends changes in line with that of the 50% most affluent households, although a permanent gap remains. Indeed, over time, CPI inflation is very close across household categories: over 20 years, the gap is +0.1 percentage points per year for the lowest 10% of households, compared to the richest 10%. These differences in trends reflect the heterogeneity of the basket of goods and services consumed by households.

For the other categories of households (classified by age or activity status), these differences are not more pronounced; price changes have been relatively homogeneous most of the time. Nevertheless, in 2018, more rural households experienced a price increase than urban households.