The Harmonized Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) for September increased over the past 12 months for all 16 economies for which such price measures are available from The Conference Board International Labor Comparisons program.

Between September 2012 and September 2013, inflation was highest in the United Kingdom (2.7 percent) and Norway (2.6 percent). By comparison, prices in the United States were up 0.8 percent. Denmark and Switzerland posted the smallest price increases (both 0.2 percent).

Compared to August, the year-over-year inflation rate fell or held steady in 14 of the 16 economies. Inflation ticked up slightly inDenmark, but the key outlier was again Japan, where the annual inflation rate rose from 1.1 to 1.4 percent. Outside of a 2008 spike in oil and commodities prices, this was the highest monthly inflation Japan has seen since March 1998.

"In September, price growth continued to slow in the U.S. and throughout Europe," said Elizabeth Crofoot, Senior Economist with the International Labor Comparisons program at The Conference Board. "Only Japan, which emerged earlier this year from a long bout of deflation, has seen persistent inflation growth since June, a result of expanding monetary policy and the large depreciation of the yen."