What euro area country had the highest annual inflation rate in October 2024?

Belgium boasted the highest annual inflation rate in the euro area in October 2024, according to the latest estimates from Eurostat, with a rate of 4.7%.

Other countries to boast a high annual inflation rate (estimated) included Estonia (4.5%), Croatia (3.5%), Slovakia (3.5%), the Netherlands (3.3%) and Greece (3.2%).

At the other end of the spectrum, Slovenia (0.0%) reported flat annual inflation in October 2024, while inflation was close to zero in Lithuania (0.1%) and Ireland (0.1%).

This Eurostat data set only includes euro area countries, meaning that data for Bulgaria, Czechia, Denmark, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Sweden is not included.

Euro area inflation

Overall, euro area annual inflation is estimated at to be 2.0% in October 2024, up from 1.7% in September according to Eurostat.

Among the main components, services inflation is expected to maintain the highest annual rate at 3.9%, remaining stable compared to September.

Food, alcohol, and tobacco inflation is anticipated to rise to 2.9% from 2.4% in September, indicating increasing price pressures in essential goods.

Elsewhere, non-energy industrial goods inflation is projected at 0.5%, a slight rise from 0.4% in the previous month, while energy remains in deflationary territory at -4.6%, though less negative than September’s -6.1%, reflecting partial stabilisation in energy prices. Read more here.

Annual inflation by EU member state, October 2024, estimated (%)