Read HICP inflation, the price index and your period change

1. Choose the question before reading the number

The inflation view offers three different measurements for Czechia, Germany and Poland. The annual HICP rate is the original percentage change against the same month of the previous year, reported by Eurostat as RCH_A. Datisto reads that separate source series; it does not reconstruct the annual rate from rounded index levels. Select this measure when your question concerns the pace of annual consumer-price change.

The I25 index instead reports a level with base year 2025 = 100. Price-level change over your selected period uses Datisto’s percentage-change method on that index. It is a change from a selected basis, not another source-reported annual rate or an annualised return. Changing the measurement changes the question, even when the countries and displayed months stay identical.

2. Keep the basket and exact period visible

Total HICP describes the source’s harmonised national consumer-price measurement. It is not your personal spending basket. Matching the classification and measure supports comparison within that definition, but a shared index base does not establish which country has higher absolute prices. Neither a lower annual rate nor a lower index alone proves that an identical household purchase costs less there.

The first visit prepares available default countries and a bounded period from actual coverage and reads the result. Apply a custom selection of one to three countries and both endpoint months, up to 120 months inclusive. For a requested-period change, the summary needs the exact usable positive starting observation and the exact ending observation. A later first usable graph point does not establish the requested starting month or the requested-period total.

3. Distinguish gaps, signed rates and revisions

An original annual rate can be negative or exactly zero. Preserve its sign and original decimal string; neither state means the observation is missing. An absent ending month remains unavailable. Do not insert zero, substitute the preceding month or join a gap with an invented value. The macro overview can identify an older numeric observation separately, with its own month; it does not relabel that observation as the requested month.

These series use the current revised history. The classification changed to ECOICOP2 from 2026, and earlier observations may be revised. Separate the measured month, dataset update, actual capture and ingestion, and result computation. Individual publication time may be unknown. A dataset update is not proof of the first publication of every monthly value, and a new access check does not turn a retained result into a new calculation.

4. Check each source and return to the selection

Czechia and Germany share a reviewed dataset within each measurement family. Poland uses a separate dataset for its index and another for its original annual rate. A mixed-country selection therefore offers separate CZ/DE and Poland source links. Check the selected dataset, methodology and current rights rather than assuming that one country’s source panel covers the other countries or every HICP measurement.

Both source links retain the same public selection: countries, measure and months. Return prepares those fields only; explicitly Apply to obtain a newly checked result. A shared selection link contains neither a saved result nor access permission. Source: Eurostat, PRC_HICP_MINR. The source panel contains the dataset DOI and review details. Selection, visualisation and this original explanation are by Datisto; Eurostat is not responsible for them.

5. Preserve the result you actually read

Switch between graph and table for the applied result, then open a point’s Value Passport. Check its country, original value, unit, period, quality, evidence and source method. A percentage-change point retains the underlying index observation as provenance; that source value has the index unit. Export reviews the same selected result and its manifest, rather than silently running another period or replacing the selected source.