Annual inflation up to 1.4% in the euro area (Eurostat)
The euro area annual inflation rate was 1.4% in January 2020, up from 1.3% in December. A year earlier, the rate was 1.4%. European Union annual inflation was 1.7% in January 2020, up from 1.6% in December. 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 Italy (0.4%), Cyprus (0.7%), Denmark and Portugal (both 0.8%). The highest annual rates were recorded in Hungary (4.7%), Romania (3.9%), Czechia and Poland (both 3.8%).
Compared with December, annual inflation fell in five Member States, remained stable in five and rose in eighteen. In January, the highest contribution to the annual euro area inflation rate came from services (+0.68 percentage points, pp), followed by food, alcohol & tobacco (+0.40 pp), energy (+0.19 pp) and non-energy industrial goods (+0.08 pp).
Geographical information
The euro area consists of Belgium, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, Slovenia, Slovakia and Finland.
The European Union includes Belgium, Bulgaria, Czechia, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Croatia, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Hungary, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Finland, Sweden and the United Kingdom.
The euro area and European Union data refer to the respective country compositions at a specific point in time. New Member States are integrated into the aggregates using a chain index formula.
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).
