Romania reported an annual inflation rate of 9.7% in May 2026, the highest in the European Union, according to the latest data from Eurostat.
Other countries to report a notably high inflation rate for the month included Bulgaria (6.3%), Lithuania (5.1%), Croatia (4.9%) and Greece (4.9%). The lowest annual inflation rates were recorded in Sweden (1.1%), Denmark (1.8%) and Czechia (1.8%).
According to Eurostat, compared with April 2026, annual inflation fell in eleven Member States and rose in sixteen.
Euro area annual #inflation up to 3.2% in May 2026 https://t.co/6DMsPYz20S pic.twitter.com/qp2Xd0xJqi
— EU_Eurostat (@EU_Eurostat) June 17, 2026
Inflation across Europe
Annual inflation in the euro area rose to 3.2% in May 2026, marking the third consecutive monthly increase. This is up from 3.0% in April and remains well above the 1.9% recorded in May 2025. Across the wider European Union, annual inflation reached 3.3%, up from 3.2% a month earlier.
Energy and services were the largest contributors to rising prices, accounting for more than 80% of overall eurozone inflation.
Eurostat data show services contributed 1.61 percentage points to the annual inflation rate, while energy accounted for a further 0.98 percentage points. Food, alcohol and tobacco added 0.36 percentage points, while non-energy industrial goods contributed 0.23 percentage points.
Energy inflation
Energy inflation remained particularly elevated, rising 10.8% year-on-year across the euro area, unchanged from April. Services inflation also accelerated, increasing from 3.0% in April to 3.5% in May.
By contrast, inflation in food, alcohol and tobacco slowed to 1.9%, down from 2.4% in April, indicating some moderation in consumer price pressures linked to food supply chains.
Eurostat is scheduled to publish its preliminary inflation estimate for June on 1 July. Read more here.
