Romania recorded the highest annual inflation rate in the EU in July 2026

Romania reported an annual inflation rate of 8.2% in July 2026, the highest in the European Union, according to new data from Eurostat.

Other countries to report an above average inflation rate included Lithuania (5.4%), Cyprus (4.4%) and Bulgaria (4.4%), while at the other end of the scale, Sweden had the lowest rate at 0.3%, followed by Czechia (1.3%), Denmark (1.6%) and Hungary (1.6%).

Compared with June, annual inflation fell in 15 EU Member States, remained unchanged in three and increased in nine, Eurostat’s data showed.

Inflation across Europe

Annual inflation in the euro area increased to 2.9% in July 2026, up from 2.8% in June and 2.0% a year earlier. Inflation across the European Union also rose, reaching 3.0% in July compared with 2.9% in June and 2.4% in July 2025.

Within the euro area, services made the largest contribution to annual inflation in July, adding 1.55 percentage points. Energy contributed 0.94 percentage points, while non-energy industrial goods and food, alcohol and tobacco each contributed 0.23 percentage points.

The annual inflation rate for food, alcohol and tobacco was 1.2% in July, down from 1.5% in June. Processed food, alcohol and tobacco inflation fell to 0.7%, from 0.9%, while unprocessed food inflation declined to 2.4%, from 3.1%.

Energy prices continued to contribute to inflation, with energy inflation reaching 10.3% in July, compared with 8.5% in June. Non-energy industrial goods inflation increased slightly to 0.9%, from 0.7%, while services inflation rose to 3.3%, from 3.2%.

Among Europe’s largest economies, Germany’s inflation rate increased to 2.8% from 2.4%, while France rose to 2.4% from 2.0%. Spain’s inflation rate increased to 3.9% from 3.6%, while Italy’s declined to 2.9% from 3.0%. Read more here.

Inflation Rates across Europe, July 2026 (%)

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