How Has the Cost of Basic Needs Changed?
Cost of Basic Needs in New Brunswick Over Time
Price Index
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is a way to measure how much the prices of everyday goods and services change over time. The CPI helps show how the cost of living is shifting, and is used to adjust things like wages, pensions, and government benefits.
The CPI is an index. An index is a number that tracks changes in a value over time, especially in things like prices, by comparing them to a starting point. The actual number of the index (like 124.7) doesn't represent a dollar amount or a real price. It’s just a reference point used to track how much things have changed. What matters is the change between index values over time, not the values themselves.
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) was set to 100 in 2002. Any change in the CPI after 2002 reflects how the overall cost of goods and services has increased or decreased compared to that year. For example, if the CPI for food was 100 in 2002, and in 2003 it was 102, then the cost of food increased by 2%.