The household savings rate in the euro area stood at 15.4% in the first quarter of 2025, up 0.2 percentage points on the previous quarter, new data from Eurostat has revealed.
This is attributed to gross disposable income growing slightly faster (+0.8%) than household consumption (+0.6%).
In the corresponding period a year ago, the household savings rate stood at 15.3%. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the household savings rate hit as high as 25.2% (in Q2 2020).
The household savings rate is defined as gross saving divided by gross disposable income, with the savings rate increasing when gross disposable income grows at a higher rate than final consumption expenditure.
Elsewhere, the household investment rate remained steady at 9.1%, with both gross disposable income and household investment growing in parallel.
Business conditions
In terms of the business environment, meanwhile, the profit share of businesses (non-financial corporations) saw a 0.3 percentage point increase to 38.8%, as gross value added rose by 1.4%, outpacing the rise in wage costs and taxes (+0.9%).
The business investment rate in the euro area also showed growth – from 21.4% to 22.2% – as business gross fixed capital formation increased by 5.2%, while gross value added increased by 1.4%, according to Eurostat.
Eurostat will follow up this release with further information on the first quarter, focusing on data for household real income and consumption per capita for both the euro area and the EU, which will be published on 25 July. Read more here.
Read more: Household saving rate saw a slight increase in the EU in Q4 2024
