[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"detail-sidebar-cat-1-en-105":3,"doc-seo-563343-105":53,"doc-detail-563343-en":127},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",[7,14,19,24,29,34,39,44,49],{"id":8,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":11,"show_sort_weight":12,"slug":13},11,1,"Template","Presentations",90,"presentations",{"id":15,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":16,"show_sort_weight":17,"slug":18},12,"Resumes",80,"resumes",{"id":20,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":21,"show_sort_weight":22,"slug":23},14,"Invoices",70,"invoices",{"id":25,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":26,"show_sort_weight":27,"slug":28},15,"Posters",60,"posters",{"id":30,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":31,"show_sort_weight":32,"slug":33},16,"Social Media",50,"social-media",{"id":35,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":36,"show_sort_weight":37,"slug":38},17,"Forms",40,"forms",{"id":40,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":41,"show_sort_weight":42,"slug":43},18,"Letters",30,"letters",{"id":45,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":46,"show_sort_weight":47,"slug":48},21,"Paper Templates",5,"papers-templates",{"id":50,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":51,"show_sort_weight":4,"slug":52},158,"General","general-158",{"code":4,"msg":54,"data":55},"ok",{"site_id":56,"language":57,"slug":58,"title":59,"keywords":60,"description":61,"schema_data":62,"social_meta":120,"head_meta":122,"extra_data":124,"updated_unix":126},105,"en","consumer-prices-inflation-statistics-explained","Consumer prices-inflation - Statistics Explained","","Consumer prices-inflation summarizes EU inflation patterns using harmonised index of consumer prices (HICP) and compares them with CPI trends in Japan, the United States, and China. It highlights the highest and lowest annual inflation rates across EU countries in 2025 and tracks the decade-long evolution from 2016 to 2025, including the COVID-19 impact. It also breaks down inflation by product categories, identifying insurance and financial services as top contributors in 2025.",{"@graph":63,"@context":119},[64,80,102],{"@type":65,"itemListElement":66},"BreadcrumbList",[67,71,74,77],{"item":68,"name":69,"@type":70,"position":9},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":72,"name":10,"@type":70,"position":73},"https://docshare.wps.com/template/",2,{"item":75,"name":51,"@type":70,"position":76},"https://docshare.wps.com/template/general/",3,{"item":78,"name":59,"@type":70,"position":79},"https://docshare.wps.com/template/consumer-prices-inflation-statistics-explained/563343/",4,{"url":78,"name":59,"@type":81,"image":82,"author":87,"headline":59,"publisher":90,"fileFormat":93,"inLanguage":57,"description":61,"dateModified":94,"datePublished":95,"encodingFormat":93,"isAccessibleForFree":96,"interactionStatistic":97},"DigitalDocument",{"url":83,"@type":84,"width":85,"height":86},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/consumer-prices-inflation-statistics-explained/563343.png","ImageObject",442,249,{"name":88,"@type":89},"Grenda","Person",{"url":68,"name":91,"@type":92},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-11-01","2026-10-12",true,{"@type":98,"interactionType":99,"userInteractionCount":101},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":100},"ViewAction",8,{"@type":103,"mainEntity":104},"FAQPage",[105,111,115],{"name":106,"@type":107,"acceptedAnswer":108},"What does inflation mean in the context of EU consumer prices?","Question",{"text":109,"@type":110},"Inflation is the increase in the general level of prices of goods and services in an economy. It is typically measured using consumer price indices such as the harmonised index of consumer prices (HICP).","Answer",{"name":112,"@type":107,"acceptedAnswer":113},"How did EU inflation change from 2016 to 2025?",{"text":114,"@type":110},"EU inflation started low in 2016 (0.2%), rose in 2017 and 2018, decreased in 2019, and dropped in 2020 under COVID-19 measures. It surged to a high in 2022 (9.2%), then decreased in 2023 and remained above 2021 levels, reaching 2.5% in 2025.",{"name":116,"@type":107,"acceptedAnswer":117},"Which product categories showed the strongest and weakest inflation effects in 2025?",{"text":118,"@type":110},"In 2025, insurance and financial services recorded the highest increase (5.3%), followed by education services (4.7%) and alcoholic beverages and tobacco (4.3%). Information and communication fell by 1.7%, making it the weakest among the main headings.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":78,"og:type":121,"og:title":59,"og:site_name":91,"og:description":61},"article",{"robots":123,"canonical":78},"index,follow",{"doc_id":125,"site_id":56},563343,1792093502,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":128},{"doc_id":125,"user_id":129,"nickname":88,"user_avatar":130,"doc_module":9,"category_id":50,"category_name":51,"doc_title":59,"doc_description":61,"doc_content":131,"file_id":132,"file_url":133,"file_type":134,"file_size":135,"view_count":101,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":9,"is_downloadable":9,"audit_status":9,"page_count":47,"language":136,"language_code":57,"site_id":56,"html_lang":57,"table_of_contents":137,"faqs":138,"seo_title":139,"seo_description":61,"update_tm":140,"read_time":73},7971474921005,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_29158cc5080c5b710cf443261637dec0","Consumer prices-inflation  \n Statistics Explained  \nData extracted in March 2026 Planned update: March 2027  \nHighlights  \nIn 2025, the highest annual inflation rates among EU countries were recorded in in Romania (6.8%), Estonia (4.8%), and Croatia and Hungary (each 4.4%) .  \nIn 2025, the highest annual price increases in the EU were recorded insurance and financial services (up 5.3%), greatly driven by increases in insurance connected with transport (8.0%), insurance connected with health (6.0%) and insurance connected with dwellings (5.7%) .  \nInflation is the increase in the general level of prices of goods and services in an economy; the reverse situation is deflation, when the general level of prices falls. Inflation and deflation are usually measured by consumer price indices or retail price indices. Within the European Union (EU) , a specific consumer price index has been developed—the harmonised index of consumer prices (HICP) . Other factors (such as wages) being equal, inflation in an economy means that the purchasing power of consumers falls as they are no longer able to purchase the same amount of goods and services with the same amount of money.  \nInflation: price changes over time in the European Union  \nOver the last decade, EU inflation began at a low of 0.2% in 2016 . From there the average annual inflation rate increased in 2017 (1.7%), and 2018 (1.9%) . The rate subsequently decreased to 1.5% in 2019 and significantly dropped to 0 .7% in 2020 under the impact of the COVID-19 measures1. It rose sharply to 2 .9% in 2021, reaching a historical high of 9.2% in 2022 . This rate decreased in 2023, but remained above the 2021 level at 6.4% . In 2024 the annual rate decreased to 2.6% and in 2025 again to 2.5%(see Figure 1) .  \nThe overall change in the HICP in the EU during the period 2016-2025 was 33.0%, or an annual average of 3.3% . Figure 1 shows comparative consumer price developments for several of the largest world economies. Price changes in Japan were generally lower than in the EU, whereas they were generally higher in the United States and China in the period 2016-2020 . During the period 2016-2025, consumer prices  \nrose by an annual average of 1 .5% in Japan and 1 .4% in China. Data for the United States was not available for 2025 .  \n1  \n Source : Statistics Explained ([https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statisticsexplained/) -20/03/2026](https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statisticsexplained/) -20/03/2026 1)[ 1](https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statisticsexplained/) -20/03/2026 1)  \nFigure 1: EU HICP and Japan, USA and China CPI - annual average all-items inflation rates, 2016-2025 Source: Eurostat (prc_hicp_ainr) and (OECD-Consumer price index-USA, China) and (OECD-Consumer price index-Japan)  \nAmong the EU countries, Hungary (73.2%), Romania (61 .8%) and Estonia (61 .3%) registered the highest overall increases in the HICP between 2016 and 2025 . By contrast, Cyprus experienced the lowest overall increase in the HICP during the same period (19.5%) .  \nLooking at the latest annual data for the HICP (see Table 1), in 2025 consumer prices rose by as much as 6.8% in Romania. The next highest increases were recorded in Estonia (4.8%), Croatia and Hungary (each 4.4%) . At the other end of the range, the lowest average annual inflation rates in 2025 were recorded in Cyprus (0.8%), France (0.9%), and Italy (1.6%) .  \n Consumer prices-inflation 2  \nTable 1: HICP all-items-annual average inflation rates, 2016-2025 Source: Eurostat (prc_hicp_ainr)  \nInflation rates by product  \nLooking at the latest annual developments in the EU for the period 2025 (see Figure 2), among the 13 main headings, consumer prices for insurance and financial services registered the highest increase in 2025, with an average of 5.3%, followed by education services with an average increase of 4.7%, while alcoholic beverages and tobacco rose by an average of 4.3% . By contrast, the price of information and communication fell by 1 .7% . The other mai","cbCailau6cNJ9moo","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCailau6cNJ9moo","pdf",204427,"English","# Highlights\n## Inflation definition and measurement\n# EU inflation over time (2016-2025)\n## Comparative developments with Japan, USA, China\n# Country-level increases (2016-2025; 2025 latest)\n# Inflation by product categories\n## 2025 main headings\n# Source data for tables and graphs\n## Data sources and methodology","[{\"question\":\"What does inflation mean in the context of EU consumer prices?\",\"answer\":\"Inflation is the increase in the general level of prices of goods and services in an economy. It is typically measured using consumer price indices such as the harmonised index of consumer prices (HICP).\"},{\"question\":\"How did EU inflation change from 2016 to 2025?\",\"answer\":\"EU inflation started low in 2016 (0.2%), rose in 2017 and 2018, decreased in 2019, and dropped in 2020 under COVID-19 measures. It surged to a high in 2022 (9.2%), then decreased in 2023 and remained above 2021 levels, reaching 2.5% in 2025.\"},{\"question\":\"Which product categories showed the strongest and weakest inflation effects in 2025?\",\"answer\":\"In 2025, insurance and financial services recorded the highest increase (5.3%), followed by education services (4.7%) and alcoholic beverages and tobacco (4.3%). Information and communication fell by 1.7%, making it the weakest among the main headings.\"}]","Consumer prices-inflation - Statistics Explained | PDF",1791829772]