Statistics Explained

Inflation in the euro area


Data from February 2024. Extracted on 18 March 2024.

Next planned article update: 3 April 2024.

Highlights

Euro area annual inflation was 2.6 % in February 2024, down from 2.8 % in January 2024.

Line chart with five lines showing the development of euro area annual inflation and its four main components monthly during the last two years until February 2024. The four components are: 1) food, alcohol and tobacco, 2) energy, 3) non-energy industrial goods, and 4) services.
Euro area annual inflation and its main components, February 2014 - February 2024
(%)
Source: Eurostat (prc_hicp_manr)

The figures presented in this article are the actual Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP).

Full article

Euro area annual inflation rate and its main components

Euro area annual inflation was 2.6 % in February 2024, down from 2.8 % in January 2024.

Looking at the main components of euro area inflation, services had the highest annual rate in February (4.0 %, stable compared with January), followed by food, alcohol & tobacco (3.9 %, compared with 5.6 % in January), non-energy industrial goods (1.6 %, compared with 2.0 % in January), and energy (-3.7 %, compared with -6.1 % in January).

Table on the euro area annual inflation and its main components. The ten rows show the following items: 1) all-items, 2) all-items excluding energy, 3) all-items excluding energy and unprocessed food, 4) all-items excluding energy, food, alcohol and tobacco, 5) food, alcohol and tobacco, 6) processed food, alcohol and tobacco, 7) unprocessed food, 8) energy, 9) non-energy industrial goods, and 10) services. Data is shown in eight columns: first, the item group's weight in 2023 in per mil, followed by the euro area annual inflation in the month February 2023 and finally one column per month for the six months from September 2023 to February 2024.
Table 1: Euro area annual inflation and its main components: weights for 2024 and rates for February 2023 and September 2023-February 2024
(%)
Source: Eurostat (prc_hicp_inw) and (prc_hicp_manr)


Line chart with five lines showing the development of euro area annual inflation and its four main components monthly during the last ten years until February 2024. The four components are: 1) food, alcohol and tobacco, 2) energy, 3) non-energy industrial goods, and 4) services.
Figure 1: Euro area annual inflation and its main components, February 2014 - February 2024
(%)
Source: Eurostat (prc_hicp_manr)


Line chart with five lines showing the development of euro area annual inflation and its four main components monthly during the last two years until February 2024. The four components are: 1) food, alcohol and tobacco, 2) energy, 3) non-energy industrial goods, and 4) services.
Figure 2: Euro area annual inflation and its main components, February 2022 - February 2024
(%)
Source: Eurostat (prc_hicp_manr)

Main components of inflation

Each of the main components contributes in varying degree to the headline inflation in the euro area. In terms of weights for 2024, 100 % for the headline HICP, services is the largest component, accounting for around 44.9 % of household final monetary consumption expenditure in the euro area. It is followed by non-energy industrial goods with around 25.7 %.

Food, alcohol & tobacco and energy account for 19.5 % and 9.9 %, respectively. Together, they comprise less than one third of euro area expenditure, but they can have significant impacts on the headline inflation as their prices tend to fluctuate significantly more than the other components'.

The weights of the main components of the euro area for 2024 are presented in Figure 3. Table 2 shows their relative weights for 2024.

Pie chart showing the weights of the four main components of the euro area HICP in 2024 (estimated and provisional).
Figure 3: Weights of the main components of the euro area HICP - 2024 (estimated and provisional)
Source: Eurostat (prc_hicp_inw)


Table on the weights of all-items, of the four main components and of 15 of their subcomponents of the euro area HICP in 2024 (estimated and provisional).
Table 2: Weights of the components of the euro area HICP, 2024 (estimated and provisional)
Source: Eurostat (prc_hicp_inw)


Direct access to

Other articles
Tables
Database
Dedicated section
Publications
Methodology
Visualisations