euro area inflation

Annual inflation rate in the euro area and its main components

The euro area annual inflation rate was 2.6% in February 2024, down from 2.8% in January 2024.

Looking at the main components of euro area inflation, the highest annual rate in February was services (4.0%, stable compared to January), followed by food, alcohol and tobacco (3.9%, 5.6% in January) %), followed by non-energy. Industrial Products (1.6 % compared to 2.0 % in January), Energy (-3.7 % compared to -6.1 % in January).

Table 1: Euro area annual inflation rates and their main components: weights for 2024 and rates for February 2023 and September 2023 to February 2024
(%)
Source: Eurostat (prc_hicp_inw) and (prc_hicp_manr)

Figure 1: Eurozone annual inflation rate and its main components, February 2014 to February 2024
(%)
Source: Eurostat (prc_hicp_manr)

Figure 2: Eurozone annual inflation rate and its main components, February 2022 to February 2024
(%)
Source: Eurostat (prc_hicp_manr)

Main components of inflation

Each of the major factors contributes to varying degrees to headline inflation in the euro area. In terms of weights in 2024, taking the headline his HICP as 100%, services are the largest component, accounting for approximately 44.9% of household final monetary consumption expenditure in the euro area. This is followed by non-energy industrial products at approximately 25.7%.

Food, alcohol and tobacco, and energy accounted for 19.5% and 9.9%, respectively. Together they account for less than a third of euro area spending, but because prices tend to be more volatile than other components, they can have a significant impact on headline inflation.

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