What European country had the highest inflation rate in September 2024?

Romania reported the highest annual inflation rate in the European Union in September 2024, with a rate of 4.8%, new data from Eurostat has found.

Other countries to report a high annual inflation rate included Belgium (4.3%), Poland (4.2%), the Netherlands (3.3%) and Estonia (3.2%).

At the other end of the spectrum, annual inflation was flat in Ireland (0.0%), while Lithuania (0.4%), Slovenia and Italy (both 0.7%) also reported low inflation rates.

Annual inflation rate in EU

The annual inflation rate in the European Union stood at 2.1% in September, down from 2.1% in August  – and significantly down on the 4.9% rate reported a year ago.

Within the euro area, meanwhile, the annual inflation rate stood at 1.7% in September 2024, down from 2.2% in August, and from 4.3% a year earlier, Eurostat said.

On a month-on-month basis, annual inflation fell in twenty member states, remained stable in two and rose in five.

In September 2024, the largest contributor to the annual euro area inflation rate was services, with an increase of +1.76 percentage points. This was followed by food, alcohol, and tobacco (+0.47 percentage points), and non-energy industrial goods (+0.12 percentage points), while energy had a negative contribution, reducing the inflation rate by -0.60 percentage points. Read more here.

Annual inflation rate by EU member state, September 2024