Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union

C4 Price Statistics, Purchasing Power Parities, Housing Statistics

2920 Luxembourg Luxembourg

The Detailed Average Prices project provides average prices per country of up to 190 well defined consumer goods and services.

The products are classified according to the five-digit sub-classes of COICOP (Classification of individual consumption by purpose). The code consists of five numbers and one letter (and an additional number in some cases). The five numbers are the five-digit COICOP code and the letter is assigned discretionally to distinguish between products within the same five-digit code. The additional number is included in some products that may be upgraded in the future.
COICOP divisions included in DAP:
01. Food and non-alcoholic beverages
02. Alcoholic beverages and tobacco
03. Clothing and footwear
04. Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels
05. Furnishings, Household equipment and routine maintenance of the house
07. Transport
09. Recreation and culture
11. Restaurants and Hotels
12. Miscellaneous goods and services

DAP products covers partly the divisions of COICOP for the household sector (goods and services that are acquired by households).

The DAP refers to an average of price offers for products purchased by the household sector.

Average prices per product are calculated for each of the participant countries. There are neither EU aggregates, nor regional breakdowns.

The target statistical universe is price offers for a given set of products purchased by the household sector. The household sector to which the definition refers includes all individuals or groups of individuals irrespective of, in particular, the type of area in which they live, their position in the income distribution and their nationality or residence status.

The European Union Member States, Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, and Turkey. Not all countries release DAP or publish them in Eurobase. Neither EU/EA nor product aggregates are published.

The 2015 data collection was the final exercise and the DAP project was discontinued.

Average prices have been published in Eurobase since May 2014 and refer to data collection from years 2012 to 2015.

Analysis were released from February 2009 (referring to 2008 data) to 2015. Those 'Consumer Prices Research' papers can be found under the HICP dedicated section / methodology / Detailed average prices.

Not applicable.

The average prices are expressed in both euros and national currencies. The exchange rates are the average annual rate as published by Eurostat for the countries that provide price all through the year and the June average monthly rate for the countries that provide only June prices (see item 3.8).

The reference period is the calendar year, except for the countries that provide only June prices (see item 3.8).

None.

The Consumer Markets Scoreboard.

Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics (recital 24 and Article 20(4)) of 11 March 2009 (OJ L 87, p. 164), stipulates the need to establish common principles and guidelines ensuring the confidentiality of data used for the production of European statistics and the access to those confidential data with due account for technical developments and the requirements of users in a democratic society.

According to policy rules (see item 7.1).

Not applicable: the 2015 data collection was the final exercise and the DAP project was discontinued.

Not applicable.

In line with the Community legal framework and the European Statistics Code of Practice Eurostat disseminates European statistics on Eurostat's website respecting professional independence and in an objective, professional and transparent manner in which all users are treated equitably. The detailed arrangements are governed by the Eurostat protocol on impartial access to Eurostat data for users.

Annually. The 2015 data collection was the final exercise.

News releases on-line

Consumer Prices Research Report, available on-line.

Statistics explained article, available on-line.

Please consult free data on-line.

Not applicable.

The Consumer Markets Scoreboard.

The Research Report explains briefly the methodology followed.

Please see the Consumer prices research (2015 prices).

All data provided by participating countries undergo a detailed multilateral validation process. For more information about Eurostat's quality assurance framework, please check: http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/quality.  

Not available.

Detailed price statistics and detailed price level data are needed for several purposes, including for product market and sector monitoring with a view to the improved monitoring of Single Market policies, and the understanding of how markets work.

Eurostat and the National Statistical Institutes are continuously investigating possibilities to extend the system of price statistics, and the project on Detailed Average Prices (DAP) aimed to supplement existing consumer price statistics by providing indicative average prices for specific consumer goods and services across Europe.

There are not specific surveys related to the Detailed Average Prices. It is posible to check the evaluations that assess Eurostat's performance in general: see 'user satisfaction surveys' at  'quality' / 'evaluation'/'general evaluaton results' in the website http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/quality/general-evaluation-results.

• In 2015, Detailed Average Prices for 17 countries are included in Eurobase. The average number of products per country is 127, out of 190, ranging between 14 and 184.
• In 2014, Detailed Average Prices for 21 countries are included in Eurobase. The average number of products per country is 119, out of 192, ranging between 14 and 187.
• In 2013, Detailed Average Prices for 23 countries are included in Eurobase. The average number of products per country is 112, out of 193, ranging between 8 and 187.
• In 2012, Detailed Average Prices for 24 countries are included in Eurobase. The average number of products per country is 84, out of 156, ranging between 7 and 152.

The DAP project was discontinued since 2015 data collection.

In price statistics it is generally accepted that the Coefficient of Variation (CV) for the observations of a product should not be larger than 20%, otherwise it could mean that the product specification is too broad and the products surveyed are not of comparable quality. Currently only around 30 % of the average prices show a CV below 20 (per cent) while around 60 % of the average prices have a CV below 30. This indicates that efforts are needed to further narrow the product specifications, without reducing the coverage of the markets.

Not available.

In the DAP survey, measurement errors can occur due to non-compliance with the strict definition of the products in the product sample, for instance with regard to package sizes or quality parameters.
If a country uses the product specifications as stipulated (even if it uses a tighter specification) the average price is published without further comment. If there are differences in specification, but these differences were considered not too large the price is published along with the flag d = definition differs, see metadata. If the differences were very significant, leading to the view that the prices may not be even broadly comparable, the price is not published. The lists of cases when there are differences in specification, but these differences were considered not too large are available in the Annexes

The 2015 data collection was the final exercise and the DAP project was discontinued.

Not applicable.

The comparability of the results is limited due to several factors that may influence price differences:

• One product cannot represent the full market in all countries for the consumption segments concerned. And even when products are identical across countries, they may not have the same relevance for the consumers in the various countries. For example the average price of a loaf of white bread may not be indicative of the price level of bread in general in a given country. The positions of the selected products on national markets may differ as well across countries even within the limits of the product specification.
• The outlet structure and distribution across countries are surely different. For example price differences across countries for ice-cream could be related to differences in market and outlet structure (locally produced or sold in supermarkets).
• The national samples may cover only prices for some types of brands, which can be chosen differently across countries. And even within the boundaries of the product specifications, quality differences may exist to a varying degree.
• In every Member State, the products have been selected following the procedures of the respective NSI. Additionally, the NSI is responsible for computing the average, using in many cases an unweighted arithmetic average of the price observations. In other countries regional price observations are weighed using regional population figures.
• The prices may be influenced by short term fluctuations in exchange rates. The impact depends on whether products were imported or produced locally, the tradability of products and other reasons.

See item 18.4 for more details about why in some cases available data are not published.

Price levels from the DAP survey cannot be compared over time to estimate inflation. Only the price indices of the HICP are to be considered the measures for European consumer inflation. The differences in prices from one year to another may come from various reasons other than price changes as measured by HICP-inflation:

• Products may be different in various periods.
• Differences across time in the distribution of outlets where prices have been collected may influence the differences in the indicative price levels.
• Comparability over time of price levels in euros will be directly affected by changes in currency exchange rates in countries that are not members of the European Monetary Union.

The DAP survey is primarily based on price data collected for the purpose of the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP), for a set of consumer products which are specified using a reduced version of the Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) standard product definitions. See item 18.1.

Not applicable.

Not available.

Data can be revised.

Not available.

Sampling and data collection are carried out by NSIs. The product sample is determined in collaboration among the participant countries and Eurostat. The data source is chosen by NSIs. Some NSIs use the existing HICP data set, other countries have developed a separate survey.

• In 2015 the prices were collected monthly, except in Spain, Finland and Norway where the prices were collected only in June.
• In 2014 the prices were collected monthly, except in Spain, Finland, United Kingdom and Norway where the prices were collected only in June.
• In 2013 the prices were collected monthly, except in Estonia, Spain, Finland, Ireland and United Kingdom where the prices were collected only in June.
• In 2012 the prices were collected monthly, except in Spain, Finland, Ireland, Poland and United Kingdom where the prices were collected only in June.

The DAP project was discontinued since 2015 data collection.

Within the general framework of each price survey, countries have a degree of freedom as to how to conduct the data collection. The most common way of obtaining data is by visiting outlets. However, questionnaires, phone calls, internet and scanner data are also used.

The validation of prices is initially performed by the NSIs and continued afterwards in a second interactive process by Eurostat and NSIs. While the validation process aims at eliminating these errors by carefully comparing the price material provided by each country and evaluating its plausibility, some of these errors can be hard to identify, especially those related to quality.

Only about two fifths of the potential amount of prices is available. There are various reasons why NSIs could not provide these data or why available data are not published, such as:

• The product may have a low consumption level or be not available in a country, and therefore the product was not part of the sample. In other cases the product is relevant but was not selected into the HICP sample of a country because other products within the product class were chosen instead (see item 15.1 for more details about geographical comparability).
• The number of price observations was considered too low for compiling a reliable price level. In other cases, the CV of the price observations of a product was too high and the NSI it was not possible to compile a reliable price level.
• The product did not fulfil the specification required (see item 13.3).
• Some NSIs do not take part in the project, for various reasons, including considering the results insufficiently comparable. Other NSIs take part in the pilot project but do not to publish the prices in Eurobase.

In every Member State, the products have been selected following the procedures of its NSI. Additionally, the NSI is responsible of computing the average, using in many cases an unweighted arithmetic average of the price observations. In other countries regional or municipal price averages (arithmetic or geometric mean) are weighted using population figures or household consumption data as weights. There is data compilation from national currency to euro and from monthly averages to annual.

No seasonal or quality adjustments are made.

The 2015 data collection was the final exercise and the DAP project was discontinued. Thus no further values will be published.