Data on household cultural expenditure are taken from the Household Budget Surveys (HBS), using the four-level COICOP-HBS nomenclature, which defines the 12 main divisions of consumption expenditure (division HE09 ‘Recreation and culture’ covers the main cultural expenditure of households). Data presented in the second edition of the ‘Cultural statistics’ pocketbook are based on the EU Household Budget Surveys, wave 2005.
Harmonised Indices of Consumer Prices (HICP) are economic indicators constructed to measure the changes over time in the prices of consumer goods and services acquired by households. The indices are constructed based on the COICOP classification of goods and products adapted to the needs of HICP, with 2005 as the base year. The available 4-digit level of disaggregation of goods and products by COICOP enabled the presentation of annual indices for the following cultural items: books, newspapers and periodicals, cultural services, equipment for the reception, recording and reproduction of picture and sound and recording media.
Examples of data presented in the pocketbook "Cultural Statistics', 2011:
