Romania reported the highest annual inflation rate in the European Union in February 2026, of 8.3%, according to new Eurostat data.
Other countries to report a high inflation rate included Slovakia (4.0%), Croatia (3.9%), Lithuania (3.3%) and Estonia (3.2%).
At the other end of the scale, the lowest inflation rate was recorded in Denmark (0.5%), followed by Cyprus (0.9%), and Czechia (1.0%).
Inflation in the EU
Annual inflation in the EU stood at 2.1% in February, slightly higher than January’s 2.0%, but down from 2.7% in February 2025. In the euro area, meanwhile inflation reached 1.9%, up from 1.7% in January, though below the 2.3% recorded a year earlier.
On a month-on-month basis, i.e. compared to January 2026, inflation fell in eleven Member States, remained stable in four, and rose in twelve.
Euro area annual #inflation up to 1.9% in February 2026 https://t.co/c6L51kpYx3 pic.twitter.com/myDoxB0GnS
— EU_Eurostat (@EU_Eurostat) March 18, 2026
Sector by sector
Looking at the core sectors that drove inflation for the month, services (+1.54 percentage points) continued to be the largest driver of annual inflation, followed by food, alcohol, and tobacco (+0.48 pp) and non-energy industrial goods (+0.17 pp).
Energy made a negative contribution (-0.30 pp), reflecting falling energy prices over the past year.
Monthly inflation for February 2026 stood at 0.6% in both the euro area and EU, Eurostat‘s data showed. The highest monthly inflation rise was recorded in Belgium, at 2.5%. Read more here.
