In 2026 the Istat basket used to calculate consumer price indices will expand and change its face. The update takes into account the evolution of European standards, but above all the transformations in household consumption, with the aim of making the measurement of inflation more in line with real life. The reference indicators remain Nic, Foi and Ipca, but the monitored items increase: we reach 531 product aggregates for Nic and Foi and 537 for the Ipca, the most detailed level of national survey.
School and clothing enter the basket
Among the most symbolic innovations are the school aprons and student uniforms, included in the clothing class. A choice that reflects an expense that is now structural for many families, especially in some areas of the country.
In the clothing sector there is also space for new accessories, such as knitting and crochet yarns, which officially enter among the items detected. These are products linked both to do-it-yourself and to more sustainable and long-lasting consumption practices.
Home, security and energy
The 2026 basket shows a growing focus on home security. In fact, video surveillance equipment enters, such as anti-theft kits, placed among the equipment for maintenance and protection of the home.
News also on the energy front, with the inclusion of charcoal – charcoal and briquettes for barbecues – and some home textiles, such as bathroom mats, increasingly present in daily consumption.
Camping, software and healthcare
Among the items related to free time, camping tents and backpacks appear, included among the articles for outdoor recreational activities. A sign of the spread of more essential and flexible forms of tourism.
A new aggregate dedicated to software, excluding video games, which includes programs and antivirus, also makes its debut, confirming the growing weight of digital spending. On the services front, emergency medical transport, including private ambulance transport, is included in the basket.
New classification and data collection
2026 also marks the adoption of the new Ecoicop classification, divided into 13 spending divisions, 47 groups, 122 classes and 234 subclasses. The indices are rebased to the year 2025=100. To estimate inflation, Istat will use approximately 27 million price quotes, coming from territorial surveys, scanner data from large-scale retail trade, web scraping and administrative sources, ensuring broad and up-to-date coverage of consumption in Italy.
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