Euro area annual inflation rate was 2.0 % in June 2018, up from 1.9 % in May 2018. A year earlier, the rate was 1.3 %. European Union annual inflation was 2.0 % in June 2018, stable compared with May 2018. A year earlier, the rate was 1.5 %. These figures are published by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.
The lowest annual rates were registered in Ireland (0.7 %), Greece (1.0 %) and Denmark (1.1 %). The highest annual rates were recorded in Romania (4.7 %), Estonia (3.9 %) and Hungary (3.2 %). Compared with May 2018, annual inflation fell in three Member States, remained stable in two and rose in twenty-two.
In June 2018, the highest contribution to the annual euro area inflation rate came from energy (+0.76 percentage points, pp), followed by services (+0.57 pp), food, alcohol & tobacco (+0.53 pp) and non-energy industrial goods (+0.10 pp).
Methods and definitions
The annual rate measures the change of the Harmonised Indices of Consumer Prices (HICP) between a month and the same month of the previous year, and the monthly rate compares the indices between the two latest months.
A contribution shows how much of the annual inflation rate comes from a particular component of the HICP. The contributions are calculated according to a method, which ensures their additivity (allowing for rounding).