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Selected Living Cost Indexes, Australia

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Living Cost Indexes (LCIs) measures the price change of goods and services and its effect on living expenses of selected household types

Reference period

March 2022

Released

4/05/2022

View all releases

Key statistics


		Dec Qtr 2021 to Mar Qtr 2022	Mar Qtr 2021 to Mar Qtr 2022
Weighted average of eight capital cities, All groups		% change	% change
Selected Living Cost Indexes (LCIs) - Household type:
	Pensioner and beneficiary LCI (PBLCI)	2.2	4.6
	Employee LCI	1.7	3.8
	Age pensioner LCI	2.3	4.9
	Other government transfer recipient LCI	2.1	4.3
	Self-funded retiree LCI	1.8	4.4
Consumer Price Index (CPI)		2.1	5.1

In the March 2022 quarter, all five LCIs rose:

Age pensioner and Other government transfer recipient households recorded the largest quarterly rises since the September 2000 quarter, following the introduction of the GST.
Pensioner and beneficiary households (which includes Age pensioners and Other government transfer recipients) recorded the largest quarterly rise since the beginning of the series in 2007.

The largest contributors to the rises were:

Food and non-alcoholic beverages and Transport for all five household types.
Supply chain disruptions, high transport, fertiliser, packaging and ingredient costs, and floods affected several Food series, notably Fruit and vegetables and Meat and seafood.
The Automotive fuel series reached record levels in the March 2022 quarter, due to higher global oil prices amid economic recovery and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Health was the next largest contributor to rises for four of the five household types: Age pensioner, Other government transfer recipient, Self-funded retiree and Pensioner and beneficiary households.
Pharmaceutical products and Medical and hospital services rose due to the cyclical decline in the proportion of consumers qualifying for subsidies under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) and Medicare safety net. The safety net thresholds for both the PBS and Medicare are reset on 1 January each year.

Over the past twelve months all LCIs rose by between 3.8% and 4.9%:

Selected Living Cost Indexes (LCIs) by household type: annual movement, Australia (%)
	Pensioner and beneficiary LCI (PBLCI)	Employee LCI	Age pensioner LCI	Other government transfer recipient LCI	Self-funded retiree LCI
Mar-99
Jun-99		0.6	1.2	1.4	0.4
Sep-99		1.2	1.4	1.7	1.2
Dec-99		1.2	1.5	1.9	1.0
Mar-00		2.6	2.6	2.9	2.4
Jun-00		3.5	2.9	3.4	2.8
Sep-00		6.2	5.7	5.9	5.7
Dec-00		6.4	5.7	5.9	5.5
Mar-01		6.5	6.1	6.0	6.1
Jun-01		5.6	6.2	5.9	6.0
Sep-01		2.1	2.8	2.7	2.3
Dec-01		2.1	3.8	3.0	3.4
Mar-02		1.9	3.4	2.5	3.3
Jun-02		2.2	3.2	2.2	3.2
Sep-02		3.2	3.6	2.9	3.8
Dec-02		3.3	3.0	2.9	3.3
Mar-03		3.7	3.6	3.7	3.6
Jun-03		3.0	2.8	2.7	2.8
Sep-03		2.6	2.5	2.6	2.3
Dec-03		2.5	2.4	2.3	2.3
Mar-04		2.5	2.0	2.0	1.7
Jun-04		3.3	2.4	2.7	2.2
Sep-04		3.1	2.2	2.5	2.2
Dec-04		3.4	2.5	2.8	2.1
Mar-05		2.7	2.2	2.2	2.3
Jun-05		2.9	2.4	2.7	2.2
Sep-05		3.6	3.3	3.4	3.1
Dec-05		3.1	3.0	3.2	2.7
Mar-06		3.6	3.4	3.6	3.2
Jun-06		4.5	5.1	4.6	4.6
Sep-06		4.5	5.3	4.9	4.7
Dec-06		4.3	4.5	4.2	4.1
Mar-07		3.5	3.0	3.3	2.5
Jun-07		3.1	2.1	2.8	1.9
Sep-07		2.8	1.9	2.4	1.6
Dec-07		3.5	2.6	3.2	2.5
Mar-08		5.0	4.5	4.8	4.2
Jun-08	4.7	5.8	4.3	5.1	4.2
Sep-08	5.1	6.2	4.7	5.4	4.8
Dec-08	4.3	4.5	4.0	4.4	3.5
Mar-09	3.5	2.4	3.5	3.5	2.9
Jun-09	2.2	-0.8	2.8	1.9	2.0
Sep-09	2.0	-1.1	2.4	1.7	1.5
Dec-09	2.6	0.3	3.1	2.3	2.7
Mar-10	2.8	2.0	3.2	2.6	2.9
Jun-10	3.8	4.5	3.3	4.2	3.0
Sep-10	3.8	4.7	3.0	4.4	2.9
Dec-10	4.0	4.5	3.2	4.5	2.8
Mar-11	4.7	4.8	4.0	5.1	3.5
Jun-11	4.5	4.5	4.5	4.6	4.0
Sep-11	4.2	3.9	4.3	4.1	3.8
Dec-11	3.2	3.3	3.1	3.3	3.2
Mar-12	1.4	1.2	1.1	1.6	1.3
Jun-12	1.1	0.7	0.7	1.2	0.6
Sep-12	1.9	0.7	2.0	1.9	1.5
Dec-12	2.2	0.7	2.4	2.0	1.9
Mar-13	2.5	1.0	2.8	2.3	2.3
Jun-13	2.3	0.7	2.6	2.2	2.2
Sep-13	2.0	0.9	2.0	2.0	2.0
Dec-13	2.4	1.3	2.5	2.5	2.6
Mar-14	3.0	2.1	3.0	3.1	2.9
Jun-14	3.1	2.3	3.1	3.1	3.2
Sep-14	2.1	1.9	1.9	2.3	2.2
Dec-14	1.7	1.6	1.2	1.9	1.5
Mar-15	0.9	0.9	0.8	1.0	1.3
Jun-15	1.0	0.9	0.9	1.1	1.2
Sep-15	1.0	0.7	0.9	1.0	1.2
Dec-15	1.3	1.1	1.2	1.4	1.6
Mar-16	1.1	1.1	0.8	1.1	1.1
Jun-16	0.9	1.0	0.7	1.1	1.1
Sep-16	1.5	1.2	1.5	1.6	1.5
Dec-16	1.7	1.0	1.6	1.8	1.4
Mar-17	2.4	1.5	2.4	2.5	2.0
Jun-17	2.0	1.3	2.0	2.0	1.8
Sep-17	2.0	1.5	1.7	2.1	1.6
Dec-17	2.3	2.0	2.1	2.4	1.6
Mar-18	2.3	2.0	2.1	2.4	1.8
Jun-18	2.5	2.3	2.2	2.7	2.0
Sep-18	2.2	2.0	2.3	2.2	2.3
Dec-18	2.1	1.9	2.0	2.1	2.2
Mar-19	1.6	1.4	1.4	1.6	1.6
Jun-19	1.9	1.6	1.9	1.9	2.0
Sep-19	1.9	1.3	1.7	1.9	1.9
Dec-19	1.8	1.0	1.8	1.9	1.9
Mar-20	2.4	1.1	2.4	2.4	2.3
Jun-20	0.4	-2.1	1.0	0.0	1.1
Sep-20	0.9	-0.9	0.9	0.8	0.7
Dec-20	0.7	-0.5	0.4	0.8	0.8
Mar-21	0.6	0.0	0.5	0.7	1.3
Jun-21	2.9	3.3	2.3	3.5	2.7
Sep-21	2.7	2.6	2.6	2.7	2.9
Dec-21	3.0	2.6	3.4	2.7	3.3
Mar-22	4.6	3.8	4.9	4.3	4.4

Selected Living Cost Indexes (LCIs) by household type: annual movement, Australia (%)

["","Pensioner and beneficiary LCI  (PBLCI)","Employee LCI","Age pensioner LCI","Other government transfer recipient LCI","Self-funded retiree LCI"]

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Transport was the main contributor for all five household types, with the price of Automotive fuel rising 35.1%.
Age pensioner households had the highest annual increase (+4.9%). This is the largest annual increase since the September 2006 quarter for this household type. Food and Housing make up a higher proportion of the expenditure for Age pensioner households compared to the other household types.
Employee households had the lowest annual increase (+3.8%) mainly due to Mortgage interest charges falling over the year. Excluding Mortgage interest charges, the index for this household type would have risen 4.3%.

Main contributors to change

Percentage change, Commodity group - December Quarter 2021 to March quarter 2022
Weighted average of eight capital cities	Pensioner and beneficiary LCI	Employee LCI	Age pensioner LCI	Other government transfer recipient LCI	Self-funded retiree LCI	Consumer Price Index (CPI)

Food and non-alcoholic beverages	3.3	2.8	3.3	3.3	2.9	2.8
Alcohol and tobacco	1.1	1.1	1.1	1.1	1.1	1.1
Clothing and footwear	-1.0	-0.7	-1.0	-1.1	-0.8	-0.6
Housing (a)	0.9	0.6	0.7	1.0	0.5	2.7
Furnishings, household equipment and services	1.6	1.2	1.8	1.5	1.5	1.1
Health	6.4	1.9	5.5	7.7	2.6	2.3
Transport	5.3	4.3	4.9	5.5	4.1	4.2
Communication	0.3	0.3	0.5	0.3	0.4	0.3
Recreation and culture	1.2	0.7	1.2	1.1	0.6	0.6
Education	4.2	4.4	5.9	4.1	3.9	4.5
Insurance and financial services (b)	0.8	0.4	0.9	0.8	1.0	0.5
All groups	2.2	1.7	2.3	2.1	1.8	2.1

(a) New dwelling purchase by owner-occupiers are included in the CPI but excluded from the Selected Living Cost Indexes.
(b) The Selected Living Cost Indexes includes interest charges and general insurance. Interest charges are excluded from the CPI and general insurance is calculated on a different basis.

For further analysis on commodity group contributors, please see the latest release of the Consumer Price Index.

Data downloads

Table 1. All groups, index numbers and percentage changes, by household type

Data files

Download xlsx [54.55 KB]

Table 2. Commodity groups, index numbers, percentage changes and points contributions, by household type

Data files

Download xlsx [159.2 KB]

Table 3. Gross insurance, mortgage interest and consumer credit, index numbers and percentage changes, by household type

Data files

Download xlsx [70.49 KB]

Use of price indexes in contracts

Price indexes published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) provide summary measures of the movements in various categories of prices over time. They are published primarily for use in Government economic analysis. Price indexes are also often used in contracts by businesses and government to adjust payments and/or charges to take account of changes in categories of prices (Indexation Clauses).

Use of Price Indexes in Contracts that sets out a range of issues that should be taken into account by parties considering including an Indexation Clause in a contract using an ABS published price index.

Frequently asked questions

The Frequently Asked Questions page that has answers to a number of common questions to do with price indexes and the Consumer Price Index, in particular.

Previous catalogue number

This release previously used catalogue number 6467.0.

Methodology

Selected Living Cost Indexes, Australia methodology, March 2022

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APA

Citation

Selected Living Cost Indexes, Australia

APA

Citation

Key statistics

Main contributors to change

Data downloads

Table 1. All groups, index numbers and percentage changes, by household type

Table 2. Commodity groups, index numbers, percentage changes and points contributions, by household type

Table 3. Gross insurance, mortgage interest and consumer credit, index numbers and percentage changes, by household type

Use of price indexes in contracts

Frequently asked questions

Previous catalogue number

Methodology

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Microdata and TableBuilder

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APA

Selected Living Cost Indexes, Australia

APA

Key statistics

Main contributors to change

Data downloads

Table 1. All groups, index numbers and percentage changes, by household type

Table 2. Commodity groups, index numbers, percentage changes and points contributions, by household type

Table 3. Gross insurance, mortgage interest and consumer credit, index numbers and percentage changes, by household type

Use of price indexes in contracts

Frequently asked questions

Previous catalogue number

Methodology

Media releases

Pensioners experience higher increases in living costs

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