The government provides detailed changes to prices over time, broken down into several categories. We can use this to show how a good or service has changed cost over time.
- Overall inflation on the island is up 60% since 2005, i.e., something that was $100 in 2005 is now $160
- There is significant variance across different types of goods and services, with healthcare being by far the largest increase, followed by food
- Interestingly, rent is actually the lowest of all reported categories
- Compared to select other countries, Bermuda is broadly in line with Canada, but below Cayman, the US and the UK
The dark line shows the overall Consumer Price Index (CPI) over time. This is a weighted ‘basket’ of the other categories listed out above. Most notable is the extremity of the rising costs of health and personal care, which explains why it is so high on numerous administrations’ agendas. A $100 treatment in 2005 is now $275 – an incredible rise in just 20 years. Food, tobacco and liquor have also increased significantly, roughly double what they were in 2005.
While it may not feel as such, the statistics say that rent and household goods and services actually haven’t increased nearly as much, both under a third more expensive than 20 years ago.
General worldwide price increases had followed each other up until 2020 or so, when the UK and the US both saw significantly higher rises than ourselves, Cayman and Canada, resulting in those 2 pulling away in terms of cost increases.
Despite sourcing most goods and services from the included economies, Bermuda has demonstrated lower CPI, particularly over the past 5 years. in a future analysis we will look at productivity over that time, and how the price rises correlate with output.
Certainly the feeling that groceries are significantly more expensive recently is born out in the data, with food showing the highest increase over the last 5 years. A shopping cart that cost $100 in 2020 is now over $20 more expensive just 5 years later.
BermudaData.org 
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