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cost of living.
693
1720. I. Flodström, actuary, on the basis of notices advertising prices in the
"Dagens Nyheter", has drawn up statistics of rents, fuel, and foodstuffs in
Stockholm, from 1876 to 1902. The same author also has relied on weekly
quotations in the "Nya Dagligt Allehanda", which seem to deal with retail trade,
in issuing statistics on market and harbour prices in Stockholm for foodstuffs
and fuel from 1900—10. Running statistics on the retail prices of the more
important necessaries of life at a number of places in Sweden have been
published since June 1903 inclusive, by the Branch for labour statistics in the
Board of Trade (now the Social Board). A budget enquiry, intended to ascertain
the cost of living in Stockholm for 1907—08, has been set on foot by the
Municipal Bureau of Statistics of Stockholm. This enquiry is based on 150
house-keepers’ books kept for a whole year, and the quantities consumed of the
different necessaries of life taken from them are calculated for an average
household in the less prosperous classes, consisting of husband, wife, and two children,
with a yearly budget approaching 2 200 kr. By a multiplication of these
quantities, so far as they concern the more important necessaries of life, by the prices
quoted for Stockholm in the respective years for such commodities, a calculation
has been made of the yearly expenditure of a similar household on the
necessaries of life in question.
The changes in the outlay on food etc. are shown in the table below, for the
years 1904—13, in a Stockholm household of the type referred to, and to this
is added an index number after the absolute figures for the various years, starting
to reckon from the total for 1904, which is set at 1 000.
Expenses for Food etc. in a household of small means in Stockholm,
for the years 1904—13.
Tear .... 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913
Kronor ... 670 696 712 738 758 760 760 757 806 808
Index number 1000 1039 1063 1 101 1 131 1134 1134 1 130 1203 1206
It is true that the quantities for Stockholm cannot be taken as applying
equally to other places in the kingdom, but they may still be used for a
corresponding calculation as to the cost of living in various years for the whole
kingdom. In the survey subjoined therefore, so far as the more important
articles of food etc. are concerned, these quantities are multiplied by the mean
prices for the kingdom ruling the corresponding articles for different years, and
an index number is added, reckoned on the basis of the total for 1905, which
is set at 100.
Average Expenses for Food etc. in a household of small means for the
whole of Sweden, 1905—13.
Year .... 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913
Kronor ... 646 669 686 718 706 711 707 743 749
Index number 100 104 106 111 109 110 109 115 1J6
It is apparent from the figures adduced that, from 1905—08, an even and
very appreciable increase in expenses has been experienced, amounting to about
11 % in the whole kingdom; it was even greater in Stockholm. The following
years, up to and including 1911, show a steadiness and even a slight decline,
which may certainly be ascribed to the crisis of 1907—08, and the consequent
depression in economic life. A fall in prices did not commence until some
time after the crises, which is to be explained from the fact that the returns
on which are based statistics refer to retail prices and these suffer gradually
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