Euro Area Inflation rate right now
Prices in the Euro Area are rising at 3.19% per year as of May 2026. Something that cost €100 in May 2025 costs about €103.19 today.
Annual inflation
3.19%
vs. May 2025
Monthly change
0.11%
Prices rose 0.11% from last month
HICP index
132.81
Up from 100 in the 2015 base year
Latest reading
May 2026
Last month: 3.02% YoY
Year-over-year inflation
HICP index level
Historical context
- Inflation has averaged 2.70% over the last 10 years and 2.17% across the full series since 2000.
- In the last 10 years, prices have risen faster than the 2% target in 57 of 120 months (≈48% of the time); they ran above 5% in 20 months (≈17%).
- The highest reading was 10.64% in Oct 2022; the lowest was -0.61% in Jul 2009.
- Today's reading sits in the Above target regime (heuristic: <0% deflation, 0–1% disinflation, 1–3% near target, 3–5% above target, >5% high inflation).
Long-run averages (YoY inflation)
| Trailing 5 years | 4.28% |
| Trailing 10 years | 2.70% |
| Trailing 20 years | 2.14% |
| Full series since 2000 | 2.17% |
| Peak (Oct 2022) | 10.64% |
| Trough (Jul 2009) | -0.61% |
Time around the 2% target (last 10 years)
| Months below 2% | 63 / 120 |
| Months above 2% | 57 / 120 |
| Months above 5% | 20 / 120 |
| Current regime | Above target |
Purchasing-power calculator
€100 from Jan 2000 is worth about — in May 2026. That's — cumulative inflation, or about — per year.
€100 across decades — quick reference
| Base year (Jan) | €100 then | Equivalent today | Cumulative inflation | CAGR |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | €100.00 | €177.51 | 77.5% | 2.23% |
| 2005 | €100.00 | €159.69 | 59.7% | 2.25% |
| 2010 | €100.00 | €145.04 | 45.0% | 2.35% |
| 2015 | €100.00 | €135.19 | 35.2% | 2.78% |
| 2020 | €100.00 | €127.25 | 27.3% | 4.10% |
Equivalent today = €100 × (HICPtoday / HICPbase Jan). CAGR is the equivalent compound annual inflation rate over the full window.
Recent years
Full yearly history (CSV)| Year | Avg HICP | Annual inflation (avg) | Year-end HICP | Annual inflation (Dec/Dec) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 128.76 | +2.13% | 129.57 | +1.96% |
| 2024 | 126.08 | +2.37% | 127.08 | +2.43% |
| 2023 | 123.16 | +5.43% | 124.06 | +2.93% |
| 2022 | 116.82 | +8.40% | 120.53 | +9.22% |
| 2021 | 107.77 | +2.59% | 110.36 | +4.97% |
| 2020 | 105.05 | +0.25% | 105.13 | -0.28% |
| 2019 | 104.79 | +1.19% | 105.42 | +1.33% |
| 2018 | 103.55 | +1.75% | 104.04 | +1.52% |
| 2017 | 101.77 | +1.54% | 102.48 | +1.34% |
| 2016 | 100.23 | +0.23% | 101.12 | +1.09% |
Recent months
Full monthly history (CSV)| Month | HICP | MoM | YoY |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 2026 | 132.815 | +0.11% | +3.19% |
| Apr 2026 | 132.673 | +1.03% | +3.02% |
| Mar 2026 | 131.321 | +1.27% | +2.55% |
| Feb 2026 | 129.673 | +0.64% | +1.89% |
| Jan 2026 | 128.849 | -0.56% | +1.67% |
| Dec 2025 | 129.570 | +0.18% | +1.96% |
| Nov 2025 | 129.340 | -0.29% | +2.14% |
| Oct 2025 | 129.720 | +0.22% | +2.10% |
| Sep 2025 | 129.440 | +0.09% | +2.24% |
| Aug 2025 | 129.320 | +0.15% | +2.04% |
| Jul 2025 | 129.130 | +0.02% | +2.03% |
| Jun 2025 | 129.100 | +0.30% | +1.98% |
| May 2025 | 128.710 | -0.05% | +1.89% |
| Apr 2025 | 128.780 | +0.57% | +2.17% |
| Mar 2025 | 128.050 | +0.61% | +2.18% |
| Feb 2025 | 127.270 | +0.43% | +2.32% |
| Jan 2025 | 126.730 | -0.28% | +2.52% |
| Dec 2024 | 127.080 | +0.36% | +2.43% |
| Nov 2024 | 126.630 | -0.33% | +2.24% |
| Oct 2024 | 127.050 | +0.35% | +2.01% |
| Sep 2024 | 126.610 | -0.09% | +1.74% |
| Aug 2024 | 126.730 | +0.13% | +2.17% |
| Jul 2024 | 126.560 | -0.02% | +2.59% |
| Jun 2024 | 126.590 | +0.21% | +2.52% |
How the inflation rate is derived
Every figure on this page is derived from the
Euro Area Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP, Overall Index), not seasonally adjusted.
History through December 2025 comes from
Eurostat (dataset prc_hicp_midx, closed EA20 composition, ECOICOP v1);
from January 2026 onwards the live series is taken from the
ECB Data Portal HICP dataset
(changing-composition euro area, now EA21 after Bulgaria joined) and multiplicatively
chain-linked at the December 2025 overlap so the whole series stays on
2015 = 100. The latest reading of 132.81 means the
consumer basket is about 32.8% more expensive than it was
in 2015.
Year-over-year (headline)
YoY% = (CPI[t] / CPI[t−12] − 1) × 100Compares the latest month's index to the same month one year ago. This is the number most media outlets and the European Central Bank cite when they say "inflation is X%".
Month-over-month
MoM% = (CPI[t] / CPI[t−1] − 1) × 100Change vs. the prior month. Better for spotting turning points but noisier. The Euro Area HICP series is not seasonally adjusted, so month-over-month readings reflect both underlying price changes and regular seasonal patterns; the year-over-year view filters those out.
Annualized (3-mo / 6-mo)
Ann% = ((CPI[t] / CPI[t−k])^(12/k) − 1) × 100The recent-momentum view favoured by central bankers: what annual rate would you get if the last k months' pace continued for a full year?
Release schedule: Eurostat publishes a flash HICP estimate on the last business day of each month and a final value around the middle of the following month; the ECB mirrors the final reading within hours. Expected next refresh of this page: around July 12, 2026. Source data syncs automatically.
Months without HICP data. When neither Eurostat nor the ECB has published a reading for a given month yet, we leave that month out of the series rather than interpolate or carry forward the previous value. This keeps every figure on the page tied to a real upstream observation.
- Monthly change (MoM) for the month following a gap is shown as —, since the prior calendar month is unavailable.
- Year-over-year (YoY) still compares to the reading 12 months earlier if that month exists; otherwise it's omitted.
- The purchasing-power calculator falls back to the nearest available month and tells you when it does.
- Readings up to and including December 2025 reflect the 20-country euro area (EA20); from January 2026 onwards they reflect the 21-country euro area (EA21, after Bulgaria joined on 1 January 2026). The two legs are chain-linked multiplicatively at December 2025 so the 2015 = 100 index level stays continuous across the join, even though Eurostat's headline release was rebased to 2025 = 100 at the same time.
Currently the series is complete — no months are missing.
Last upstream observation: May 2026. Artifact generated on 2026-06-16.