FX.co ★ 6 alternative indexes to estimate economic welfare

Latte index

Some people cannot imagine their life without a cup of aromatic coffee. This beverage is recognized as one of the most popular in the world. For this reason, Starbucks, the famous coffee chain, proposed to measure the level of well-being and solvency of the population using the Latte index – the most popular coffee drink.

Borscht index

This is the most famous alternative index in Ukraine. This index with a funny name has become widely known outside the country. The cost of borscht is calculated by the price of the following ingredients: 300 g of pork, 500 g of potatoes, 500 g of beets, 200 g of carrots, 300 g of cabbage, 200 g of onions, 90 g of tomato paste, 30 g of sunflower oil, and 200 g of sour cream. These ingredients will be enough for 5 liters of soup. The cost of all ingredients is summed up and the total amount of money spent on cooking borscht is obtained. Hence, this index measures the cost of food year-on-year.

Khachapuri index

In Georgia, economists measure the well-being of citizens by using the most popular Georgian food, the Khachapuri. They call it the Khachapuri index. The Khachapuri index requires the ingredients that are needed to cook one khachapuri: 250 g of flour, 100 g of cheese, 50 g of yeast, 75 ml of milk, 1 egg, and butter (vegetable and cream), sugar, and salt. The use of gas and electricity is also included in the price. In 2019, the Khachapuri index reached a historic high due to a 12% fall in the exchange rate of the lari (the currency of Georgia) and an increase in food prices.

Bad Habits index

Deutsche Bank quite often creates one of the funniest indexes that offer a non-standard approach to measuring the population welfare. It regularly publishes original and try-not-to-laugh indexes such as the Dating index, the Cappuccino index, the Car rental index, etc. However, most often experts at Deutsche Bank use the Bad Habits index that includes a set of five bottles of beer and two packs of cigarettes.

iPhone index

Experts at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia came up with their own formula for measuring the welfare of citizens. They created a new iPod index based on the iPod Nano 2Gb model. However, by now, this indicator is outdated, and the creators of the index have replaced the iPod with the iPhone index.

Olivier Salad index

Despite its French name, this index is widely used in Russia. Experts took the combined cost of the salad ingredients such as 500 g of canned cucumbers, 380 g of peas, 500 g of potatoes, 200 g of carrots, 4 eggs, 300 g of cooked sausage, 100 g of onions, and 200 g of mayonnaise to measure the inflation. Usually, this index comes in handy when the New Year is around the corner as Olivier salad is a must-have on the Russian New Year table.