To determine the minimum required amount of money for which a certain person or family can live for a month, the concept of a consumer basket was introduced. It is also used to compare real and estimated levels of acquisition of certain goods, to calculate the level of inflation and determine the purchasing power of each currency.
Legislative regulation
Before determining the value of the consumer basket, it is necessary to find out its composition. It is the quantity of products included in it and the prices for them that will determine how much money everyone needs to spend on living. The composition of this basket was approved by the corresponding federal law of 2012 for three main groups of the population: able-bodied people, children and pensioners.
A grocery basket for Russian citizens consists of 11 items. It is separately indicated that the cost of non-food items is set at 50% of the cost of food, the same percentage is determined for services. But in previous legislative acts, the necessary norms were calculated for paying for services, buying clothes and basic necessities.
Minimum set of products
At the federal level, the minimum number of products that should be consumed by different categories of the population per year was determined. Thus, the law establishes such standards for children, senior citizens and the working population.
|
Product Category |
Units |
Children |
Senior citizens |
Able-bodied population |
|
Bread (including cereals, pasta, beans, bread in terms of flour) |
kg |
77.6 |
98.2 |
126.5 |
|
vegetables and gourds |
kg |
112.5 |
98 |
114.6 |
|
potatoes |
kg |
88.1 |
80 |
100, 4 |
|
fresh fruits |
kg |
118.1 |
60 |
45 |
|
sugar and confectionery (conversion to sugar) |
kg |
21.8 |
21, 2 |
23.8 |
|
fish products |
kg |
18.6 |
16 |
18.5 |
|
meat products |
kg |
44 |
54 |
58.6 |
|
the eggs |
PCS |
201 |
200 |
210 |
|
dairy products (conversion to milk) |
l |
360.7 |
257.8 |
290 |
|
fats, including vegetable oil and margarine |
kg |
5 |
ten |
eleven |
|
other products (spices, tea, salt, etc.) |
kg |
3, 5 |
4.2 |
4.9 |
The annual nutritional kit for every resident of Russia looks just like that. The grocery basket for a month also looks the same. Its composition is no different, just the number of products from each category can be divided by 12, and you will find out how much meat or bread should be eaten within 30 days. By the way, if it seems to you that the tables are given too large and unrealistic numbers, then to determine the average daily rate, simply divide each of the indicators by 365. So you will find out that an adult can eat about 275 grams of potatoes a day, 300 other vegetables and a little more than half an egg. The daily norm of meat is 160, and fish - 50 grams. True, in some regions the set of its components may differ.
How is the composition of the basket determined?
Despite the fact that includes a grocery basket, many are perplexed. They are interested in what legislators proceed from when they allocate, for example, 88 kg for a child and 80 kg for a senior citizen. To understand this, you need to understand how it is composed. First of all, keep in mind that it should be updated at the legislative level at least 1 time every 5 years.
When updating the basket, its biological and, of course, nutritional value is taken into account. It is believed that each new set of products should be better and more useful than the previous one. That is why, at the legislative level, more meat, milk, fish products and eggs, fruits and various vegetables are laid in it. But the share of potatoes, bread products, fats is gradually decreasing.
Also, the grocery basket takes into account the content of fats, carbohydrates and proteins, and the amount of kcal in it is determined. These indicators must necessarily comply with the standards established for each of the categories of the population.
What is a consumer basket for?
In many countries, it is customary to determine the minimum set of products and goods that are necessary for living. Based on its value, the minimum estimated amount for which a person can live is calculated. Of course, the established set is more theoretical in nature, because for a full life it is not enough. The cost of living and the consumer basket are two interrelated concepts, because the first indicator is determined based on the cost of the second.
It is the cost of living that is taken as the basis for calculating various social co-payments, determining the amount of benefits and other payments. It is easy to determine the level of inflation by the cost of the consumer basket, it is enough to calculate how much it has grown over the billing period.
