site.btaDecember Inflation Up Increases to 2.4% in Euro Area, 2.7% in EU Y/Y

The euro area annual inflation rate was 2.4% in December 2024, up from 2.2% in November, according to data from Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union. A year earlier, the rate was 2.9%. The European Union annual inflation was 2.7% in December 2024, up from 2.5% in November. A year earlier, the rate was 3.4%. In Bulgaria, annual inflation in December 2024 was 2.1%, up from 1.8% in November.

Prices of consumer goods increased by 0.2 percentage points year-on-year compared to November.

Across the EU, the rate of price increases in December 2024 was 2.7%, up from 2.5% in November.

The lowest annual rates were registered in Ireland (1.0%), Italy (1.4%), Luxembourg, Finland and Sweden (all 1.6%). The highest annual rates were recorded in Romania (5.5%), Hungary (4.8%) and Croatia (4.5%). Compared with November 2024, annual inflation fell in seven Member States, remained stable in one and rose in nineteen.

In December 2024, the highest contribution to the annual euro area inflation rate came from services (+1.78 percentage points, pp), followed by food, alcohol & tobacco (+0.51 pp), non-energy industrial goods (+0.13 pp) and energy (+0.01 pp).

The average annual inflation rate according to the EU harmonized methodology is 2.6%.