🇺🇸US2.4%
🇬🇧UK2.8%
🇮🇳India4.9%
🇵🇰Pakistan11.2%
🇹🇷Turkey28.6%
🇦🇷Argentina30.4%
IMF · BLS · World Bank · 2026
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Data: IMF · World Bank · BLS

Which categories
are hit hardest?

Food, housing, energy, healthcare, transport, education, and clothing — see category-level inflation breakdowns for 26 countries.

26Countries
7Categories
2023–26Years
FreeAlways

Inflation by spending category

Which parts of your budget are hit hardest — food, housing, energy, healthcare and more

US: BLS CPI sub-indices. Others: IMF sector estimates and national statistical agencies.

How to use this tool

1
Select a country and year from the dropdowns above. The bars update instantly.
2
The longest bar = the category with the highest inflation. Compare bars to see which parts of the budget are hit hardest.
3
Negative values (shown in green) mean prices in that category actually fell that year — common in energy during 2023–24 in the US.

Why category-level inflation matters

Headline CPI is an average — but your personal inflation rate depends on what you actually spend money on. If you rent a home, housing inflation hits you harder. If you drive a lot, energy inflation hurts more. If you have young children, education inflation is critical.

For example, in Pakistan in 2023, energy inflation hit 42.5% while clothing rose 21.9% — but the headline CPI was 29.2%. Someone spending heavily on energy experienced far worse than average. Meanwhile, in the US in 2024, energy actually fell 2.1% (deflation), helping keep the headline low even as housing rose 5.5%.

🏠
Housing — stickiest
Housing inflation is the hardest to reduce — rental contracts are long-term and construction lags demand by years.
⚡
Energy — most volatile
Energy prices swing wildly with oil markets and geopolitics. A single conflict can add 10–40% in a year.
🛒
Food — most felt
Food inflation is most felt by low-income households who spend a larger share of income on groceries.
🎓
Education — steady rise
Education costs rise steadily above headline inflation in most countries — a long-run financial planning factor.
Data sources: US figures from BLS CPI sub-indices. Other countries estimated from IMF sector-level CPI data, national statistical agencies, and World Bank WDI. Category breakdowns are estimates and may differ from official national figures.

Methodology

Category-level figures break down headline CPI into its component parts — food, housing, energy, healthcare, transport, education, and clothing — using the same annual percentage-change formula applied to each category's own sub-index.

Category inflation rate
Category Rate (%) = ((SubIndexthis year − SubIndexlast year) / SubIndexlast year) × 100

Important caveat: for the United States, these come directly from published BLS CPI sub-indices — the most granular official data we have. For other countries, where consistent official sub-index data isn't always publicly available, we use estimates derived from IMF sector-level indicators. Treat non-US category figures as informed estimates rather than official government sub-indices.

Full source-by-source breakdown on our Data Sources page.

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Frequently asked questions

Not always. US category figures are informed by Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI sub-indices. Category figures for other countries are estimates informed by available national statistical, IMF and World Bank data; they are not a substitute for a published official category CPI series where one is unavailable.
Headline CPI reflects a defined average basket. Your personal experience depends on what you buy, how much you spend in each category, and the prices available to you. The Personal Inflation calculator weights category estimates by your own spending shares to provide an illustration.