The annual inflation rate continues to fall across continental Europe, based on the latest data for February 2024 coming from the statistical office of the European Union (Eurostat).

In February 2024, the Euro Area annual inflation rate was 2.6%, down from 2.8% reported in January. The prior year’s rate was 8.5%. The annual inflation in the European Union was 2.8% in February 2024, down from 3.1% in January.

The rate was 9.9% a year earlier. Services (+1.73 percentage points pp) made the highest contribution to the annual inflation rate in the Euro Area in February, followed by food, alcohol & tobacco (+0.79 pp), non-energy industrial goods (+0.42 pp) and energy (-0.36 pp).

The highest annual inflation rates were recorded in Romania (7.1%), Croatia (4.8%) and Estonia (4.4%), while the lowest annual rates were observed in Denmark, Latvia (both 0.6%), and Italy (0.8%).

Compared with January, annual inflation decreased in 20 member states, remained stable in five and increased in two.