Canadian Foreign Post Indexes

Detailed information for 2025

This survey collects data for the computation of comparative indexes of retail prices and costs encountered by Canadian federal government personnel stationed to foreign locations at a given point in time.

Data release - March 23, 2026

• Questionnaire(s) and reporting guide(s)
• Description
• Data sources and methodology
• Data accuracy

Description

The Canadian government employs military and civilian expatriates in approximately 300 locations around the world. Canada-based personnel who serve at these posts may experience considerably different living conditions from those in Ottawa-Gatineau, headquarters of the Canadian federal government. Among these differences are the prices for consumer goods and services. Higher prices, fluctuating exchange rates and inflation at the post may mean the purchasing power of their Canadian dollar is not as strong as it would be in Ottawa-Gatineau.

The Government Allowances Section of Statistics Canada's Producer Prices Division is responsible for the computation of indexes of comparative retail prices in support of a system of allowances and related provisions for Canadian government employees posted outside Canada. These include the Foreign Service Directives (FSD) and the Military Foreign Service Instructions (MFSI). They are designed to assist employees where the cost of living is higher than in Ottawa-Gatineau by providing an allowance to compensate for higher product costs at the post. The objective is to keep the purchasing power of posted employees equal to their counterparts in Ottawa-Gatineau.

This survey collects data used to calculate comparative indexes of retail prices for a specific basket of products (goods and services) purchased by Canadian federal government personnel stationed at a foreign location at a given point in time, compared to prices of a similar basket of products in Ottawa. FSD 55 governs this Post Index, used in the calculation of the Post Living Allowance.

Applied to salary ranges, the Post Index is intended to provide employees with the financial means to maintain a lifestyle comparable to that which would be enjoyed by similar family income earners in Ottawa-Gatineau. The Post Index is not designed or intended to create incentive or inducement for service abroad. The price level at the point of comparison is always expressed as 100; thus, a foreign post index of 135 indicates that for the range of products compared, we estimate price levels at the foreign post to be 35 percent higher than those in Ottawa.

The products represented in the Post Index are weighted according to their relative importance in consumer expenditures. For example, Canadians spend a much larger share of their total expenditures on milk than on waxed paper. Weights ensure that a 10% difference in the price of milk would have a greater impact on the Post Index than a 10% difference in the price of waxed paper.

Post Index basket weights are obtained from surveys of consumer expenditures, Statistics Canada's Survey of Household Spending (SHS), and relate to a specific year.

Post Index surveys are conducted annually. There are two main components to the survey:
- Price collection in Ottawa
- Price collection at foreign posts

Reference period: Annual

Collection period: Prices are collected annually between October to November.

Subjects

• Prices and price indexes

Data sources and methodology

Target population

The target population is all Canada-based federal employees at a foreign location. The sample of retail outlets is a judgmental sample of local retailers frequented by post personnel. Some 400 price specifications are included from the universe of retail items covering the specific basket of products (goods and services) included in the survey.

Instrument design

Questionnaires are subject to revision when new product weights are introduced. Revision permits the introduction of new products, the removal of obsolete products, and the addition of specifications for categories of expenditures that are increasingly relevant to a typical family expenditure pattern. Individual specifications may be revised annually to capture changing models or formats, particularly those related to electronic and audio/visual products.

Information requested in the price collection schedules serves to ensure that these questionnaires are relevant and elicits compliance, providing the data required to produce the Foreign Post Indexes.

Sampling

This is a sample survey with a cross-sectional design.

The collection sample for the post Pricing Schedule questionnaires are retail outlets normally patronized by foreign post employees and retail outlets in Ottawa, Canada (base city). Collection includes prices paid by post personnel for goods and services and identify the name of stores, outlets, or retailers where they shop. This includes restricted access outlets, e.g., diplomatic stores or tax-free sources and other locations used by these respondents. The Ottawa retail outlets include a combination of those from the Consumer Price Index (CPI) sample and others for product types not included in the CPI sample.

Only categories of products that have been agreed upon by the Canadian government and its employee associations are included on the questionnaire.

Some important criteria and considerations for designing a basket of products are as follows:
- The product should be widely available since the same pricing survey is used at all locations. Availability is especially important for international comparisons due to differences in markets, climates, and products.
- The product should be one commonly purchased by Canadian families and have some significance in their expenditure patterns.
- The product should be easy to identify and be amenable to reasonably precise description.
- Most of the price collection required for a Post Index survey is undertaken by personnel at the post and not by trained price collectors. As a result, product specifications tend to be focused on basic products.
- Products are neither included nor excluded based on any moral or social judgments. They are included because they represent significant elements of reported average household expenditures.

Products fall into 10 broad categories of expenditure:
• Food expenditures
• Household operations
• Household furnishings and equipment
• Transportation
• Non-prescription medication and equipment
• Personal care
• Recreation
• Tobacco products and alcoholic beverages
• Financial services
• Clothing and accessories

The following five product categories are excluded and are addressed in other provisions of the Foreign Service Directives:
1. Shelter
2. Fuel and utilities
4. Education
5. Vacation trips
6. Savings and investments

Data sources

Responding to this survey is voluntary.

Data are collected directly from survey respondents, extracted from administrative files and derived from other Statistics Canada surveys and/or other sources.

Sources:
- Prices from Ottawa retail outlets collected by Statistics Canada
- Data collected from foreign posts
- Statistics Canada
- Survey of Household Spending (SHS)
- Consumer Prices Index (CPI)
- Bloomberg
- Bank of Canada
- International Monetary Fund (IMF)
- Eurostat
- Bureau of Labor and Statistics
- Numerous national central banks and international statistical agencies

Data integration from multiple sources is used to assess local and foreign price movements and rates of exchange to Canadian dollars.

View the Questionnaire(s) and reporting guide(s).

Error detection

All respondent supplied data (completed questionnaires) is subject to initial review for completeness and validity. Direct follow up is undertaken to obtain missing or incomplete portions of the survey or to resolve inconsistent responses.

Outliers are identified using both automated and manual procedures, and detailed analysis is carried out on product category aggregates.

Imputation

Automated imputations are used to resolve low level price aggregations for specific product categories.

The weight for the low level product without a price is re-distributed to other products in the same product category.

Estimation

Price data from each post are combined with average prices in Ottawa from Statistics Canada data holdings to produce a comparison of average prices at the post to average prices in Ottawa for each representative product during the collection period. Prices at the post are converted to Canadian dollars and package sizes are standardized prior to making these comparisons. Expenditure data from the Survey of Household Spending are used to appropriately weight each price comparison and produce an index number reflecting the relative difference in the cost of purchasing a representative basket of goods and services.

Quality evaluation

Once established, every Post Index undergoes review to assess its accuracy in consideration of exchange rate movements and changes in Ottawa prices and price change at the Post. This information is based on host country national statistical indicators (Consumer Price Index, or similarly named indexes) and data from international organizations.

Disclosure control

Statistics Canada is prohibited by law from releasing any data which would divulge information obtained under the Statistics Act that relates to any identifiable person, business or organization without the prior knowledge or the consent in writing of that person, business or organization. Various confidentiality rules are applied to all data that are released or published to prevent the publication or disclosure of any information deemed confidential. If necessary, data are suppressed to prevent direct or residual disclosure of identifiable data.

Although price data collected outside of Canada are not subject to the Statistics Act, respondents are given the same guarantee of confidentiality as if the data were collected in Canada. Price data are converted to price indexes and data are released such that it is not possible to identify the price data of the suppliers of the raw price information.

Information supplied by individuals posted to foreign locations, once received by Statistics Canada, is deemed to be subject to the Statistics Act.

Revisions and seasonal adjustment

Once established, Post Indexes are subject to monitoring, to ensure their continuing validity during the year. Three factors are considered:
1. Inflation in prices at the post.
2. Inflation in Ottawa prices.
3. Exchange rate fluctuations relative to the Canadian dollar.

If as a result of monitoring, Statistics Canada determines that exceptional circumstances exist at the post, this may result in a change to the post index between annual reviews.

Data accuracy

The Post Index is a measurement founded on standard statistical procedures. It is designed to meet a very specific purpose, to support the Foreign Service Directive 55 (FSD 55). This directive assists employees where the cost of living is higher than in Ottawa-Gatineau by providing an allowance to compensate for higher product costs at the post.