This important and comprehensive manual provides guidelines for statistical offices and other agencies responsible for constructing Consumer Price indices (CPIs) and explains in-depth the methods that are used to calculate a CPI. It also examines the underlying economic and statistical concepts and principles needed for making choices in efficient and cost effective ways and for appreciating the full implications of those choices.

The following international organisations, concerned both with the measurement of inflation and with policies designed to control it, have collaborated on the Consumer Price Index Manual: Theory and practice: the International Labour Organization, the International Monetary Fund, the Organisation for Economic and Co-operation and Development, the Statistical Office of the European Communities (Eurostat), the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe and the World Bank.