The subsistence index in the 3rd quarter of 2007 amounted to 1,025.3 lei compared with 816.6 lei in the similar period of 2006, Info-Prim Neo reports with reference to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). Price hikes in Q3-07 pushed the subsistence level further up, by 104.6% compared with Q1. The index diminished by only 3.5% compared with the second quarter. According to the data of the Household Income Survey, population’s available income in the first three quarters of 2007 rose from 892 lei on average per capita in the first quarter to 1,068.6 lei in the third quarter. Population’s available income in the third quarter exceeded the subsistence level by 6.8%. Raising a child requires on average 929 lei per month, the size of this index depending on the age of the child, from 378.1 lei for a child up to 1 year of age to 1,036.6 lei for a child aged 7-15 years. While the subsistence index for pensioners made up 883.2 lei in the third quarter, the average monthly pension set for this category of population as of 1 October 2007 totalled 539.4 lei, which makes it possible to cover the minimum existence level in proportion of 61.1%. The subsistence index is determined by the level of prices for food included in the consumer basket and by the share of non-food products and services basket, which are calculated on the basis of the Household Income Survey. Premier Vasile Tarlev has recently instructed relevant Government offices to replace the notions of “minimal consumer basket” and “subsistence index” as they are superannuated and bear a speculative character. Moldova has to keep to EU standards and quit using use old notions that do not correspond to reality, he said.