How Czech inflation is worked out: the basket, its weights and ČSÚ's method
What is in the consumer basket, the weight of each division and item, who collects the prices and which division moves inflation now. With a personal inflation calculator. From ČSÚ's method.
Inflation for 10/2026: 2.4 %.
What is tracked
The consumer basket has 13 divisions. Outside food, drinks, alcohol and tobacco it holds 427 items, which ČSÚ calls price representatives: goods and services whose price stands well for a whole group. Food, drinks, alcohol and tobacco are worked out from every significant item in the chains' till data. ČSÚ renews the items each year.
Where the prices come from
ČSÚ's 46 field workers collect about a third of the basket, from the 1st to the 20th of the month, in 35 districts and Prague. More than a third is tracked centrally, such as prices that are the same across the country or come from reports and the internet. The rest is till data: turnover divided by quantity sold, the price goods really sold at. ČSÚ works with about 8,500 shops and service outlets and collects about 30,000 prices a month. Prices include taxes, and field workers leave out offers such as 3 for 2.
How the weights are set
A weight is an item's share of household spending: what weighs more moves inflation more. The weights valid from January 2026 rest on household spending in the national accounts for 2024, adjusted by an estimate for 2025. Family budget statistics fill in the detailed items. ČSÚ changes the weights every 2 years. Left out are purchases abroad, home-grown produce and similar consumption in kind, drugs, prostitution, life insurance and the fees hidden in banks' interest margins.
How it is worked out
ČSÚ computes a Laspeyres index on fixed weights: what the same shopping would cost today against what it cost in the base period. Quantities stay those of the base period, so when people move to cheaper goods the weights don't react until the next change. The average price for Czechia is a weighted mean of the regions. Since January 2026 the price base is December 2025 and the series links to the 2025 average = 100; ČSÚ derives the monthly and yearly changes from it. When a product's quality changes, ČSÚ adjusts the price so that better quality doesn't read as a price rise.
The divisions of the basket and their weights
| Housing, water, energy, fuels | 27.0 % | 1.7 % | rent including imputed rent, repairs, water and sewage, waste, electricity, gas, heat, solid fuels |
|---|---|---|---|
| Food and non-alcoholic drinks | 16.9 % | −4.0 % | all food and non-alcoholic drinks |
| Transport | 9.9 % | 12.2 % | cars including repairs and parts, fuel, public transport, postal and delivery services |
| Alcohol and tobacco | 8.3 % | 4.0 % | alcoholic drinks and tobacco products |
| Recreation, sport and culture | 7.9 % | 3.1 % | electronics, sports goods, books, toys, culture, lotteries, holidays, pets |
| Restaurants and accommodation | 6.8 % | 4.2 % | restaurants, cafés, workplace and school meals, hotels, guest houses, student halls |
| Household goods and services | 5.1 % | 1.9 % | furniture, carpets, household textiles, appliances, tableware, cleaning products, tools |
| Information and communication | 4.7 % | 3.0 % | mobile phones and phone services, internet, streaming services |
| Personal care, other goods and services | 4.5 % | 3.7 % | cosmetics, hairdressers, watches and jewellery, social care, legal and administrative services |
| Clothing and footwear | 3.9 % | −2.8 % | clothes, accessories, footwear including repairs |
| Health | 2.6 % | 4.5 % | medicines, medical goods, dentists, opticians, doctors, spas |
| Insurance and financial services | 1.8 % | 4.1 % | insurance of people, homes and cars, bank fees |
| Education | 0.6 % | 4.7 % | every level of education including language and art courses |
The heaviest items of the basket
| Imputed rent (the cost of owner-occupied housing) | 11.93 % |
|---|---|
| Electricity | 4.30 % |
| Cigarettes | 4.10 % |
| Restaurants and cafés with table service | 3.98 % |
| Rent | 3.45 % |
| Bread and bakery products | 2.14 % |
| Fresh and frozen meat | 2.09 % |
| Used cars | 2.06 % |
| Lotteries and gambling | 1.91 % |
| Mains gas | 1.80 % |
| Petrol | 1.74 % |
| Clothes for women and girls | 1.68 % |
| New cars | 1.50 % |
| Furniture | 1.48 % |
| Personal care products | 1.42 % |
| Mobile phone services | 1.39 % |
| Spirits and liqueurs | 1.32 % |
| Beer | 1.29 % |
| Diesel | 1.23 % |
| Other energy for heating and cooling | 1.20 % |
Imputed rent
- Renovating and rebuilding family houses: 31.6 %
- New flats and houses, turnkey, without the land: 18.7 %
- Self-built family houses: 18.0 %
- Reconstruction and upkeep of flats and houses: 15.9 %
- Renovating apartment blocks, measured through repair funds: 13.3 %
- Estate agents' fees: 2.5 %
Your own inflation
The calculator on the page weights the divisions by what you spend in a month and shows your inflation beside the official figure.