Indexation

Why are amounts indexed?

Contracts often link amounts to inflation by means of indexation over a certain period of time. This is intended to prevent the agreed amount from being devalued by any inflation. This is particularly important for wages, pensions, alimony or long-term contracts. The agreed amount is indexed to a constant purchasing power.

How are amounts indexed?

An ordinary rule of three is used to calculate an index-linked amount at any given time:

indexed amount = initial amount x final index value / initial index value

What should be taken into account for a contractual indexation?

When applying the index results in connection with contractual inflation compensation, it is advisable to clearly describe the following framework conditions:

 

1. Reference month and value of the amount to be indexed;
2. Defined index base and index level in the reference month;
3. indexation mechanism.

Release calendar

Indexing with the online calculator

With the inflation calculator you can calculate amounts indexed with the national consumer price index (e.g. alimony payments, pensions, etc.) or the inflation rate over any period of time.

Indexation table

For indexing purposes, the FSO recommends the use of the rounded index results according to the indexing table below or the CPI Inflation Calculator.

The complete long series can be found in the indexation tables (XLS file)

CPI all items, Index on the basis (=100 points)

	03/23	04/23	05/23	06/23	07/23	08/23
December 2020	106.0	106.0	106.3	106.3	106.2	106.4
December 2015	106.9	106.9	107.2	107.2	107.1	107.3
December 2010	104.0	104.0	104.3	104.3	104.2	104.4
December 2005	108.4	108.4	108.6	108.7	108.6	108.8
May 2000	114.1	114.1	114.3	114.4	114.2	114.5
May 1993	121.0	121.0	121.3	121.4	121.2	121.5
December 1982	167.5	167.5	168.0	168.1	167.8	168.2
September 1977	208.9	208.9	209.4	209.5	209.3	209.7
September 1966	352.2	352.2	353.0	353.3	352.8	353.5
August 1939	795.7	795.6	797.6	798.1	797.0	798.7
June 1914	1'091.5	1'091.5	1'094.2	1'094.9	1'093.4	1'095.7

FSO, Consumer Price Index

Percentage changes

CPI all items, Percentage change with respect to the

Month	03/23	04/23	05/23	06/23	07/23	08/23
previous month	0.2	0.0	0.3	0.1	-0.1	0.2
same month last year	2.9	2.6	2.2	1.7	1.6	1.6

FSO, Consumer Price Index

Average annual inflation rate

Year	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022
Change in %	0.5	0.9	0.4	-0.7	0.6	2.8

FSO, Swiss Consumer Price Index (CPI)

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