Inflation in Europe 2021–2025
From 2021 to 2025, consumer prices in the EU rose by 25.7% in all. €1,000 kept in cash since 2020 now buys what about €795 bought then. But the rise was very uneven: from 17.4% in Finland to 53.6% in Hungary.
Five years of price rises, country by country
The biggest rises were in Hungary (53.6%), Estonia (47.9%) and Romania (44.5%); the smallest in Finland (17.4%), Denmark (17.9%) and France (18.0%). In Hungary, €1,000 kept in cash since 2020 now buys what about €651 bought then.
Show the data as a table
| Country | 2021–2025 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | €1,000 of 2020 is worth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hungary | 53.6% | 5.2% | 15.3% | 17.0% | 3.7% | 4.4% | €651 |
| Estonia | 47.9% | 4.5% | 19.4% | 9.1% | 3.7% | 4.8% | €676 |
| Romania | 44.5% | 4.1% | 12.0% | 9.7% | 5.8% | 6.8% | €692 |
| Poland | 41.5% | 5.2% | 13.2% | 10.9% | 3.7% | 3.3% | €707 |
| Lithuania | 41.0% | 4.6% | 18.9% | 8.7% | 0.9% | 3.4% | €709 |
| Czechia | 39.5% | 3.3% | 14.8% | 12.0% | 2.7% | 2.3% | €717 |
| Latvia | 38.8% | 3.2% | 17.2% | 9.1% | 1.3% | 3.8% | €721 |
| Slovakia | 37.6% | 2.8% | 12.1% | 11.0% | 3.2% | 4.2% | €727 |
| Bulgaria | 34.0% | 2.8% | 13.0% | 8.6% | 2.6% | 3.5% | €746 |
| Croatia | 33.8% | 2.7% | 10.7% | 8.4% | 4.0% | 4.4% | €747 |
| Austria | 28.2% | 2.8% | 8.6% | 7.7% | 2.9% | 3.6% | €780 |
| Netherlands | 26.9% | 2.8% | 11.6% | 4.1% | 3.2% | 3.0% | €788 |
| EU average | 25.7% | 2.9% | 9.2% | 6.4% | 2.6% | 2.5% | €795 |
| Belgium | 25.1% | 3.2% | 10.3% | 2.3% | 4.3% | 3.0% | €799 |
| Slovenia | 25.0% | 2.0% | 9.3% | 7.2% | 2.0% | 2.5% | €800 |
| Germany | 24.7% | 3.2% | 8.7% | 6.0% | 2.5% | 2.3% | €802 |
| Sweden | 23.0% | 2.7% | 8.1% | 5.9% | 2.0% | 2.6% | €813 |
| Spain | 21.9% | 3.0% | 8.3% | 3.4% | 2.9% | 2.7% | €820 |
| Greece | 21.4% | 0.6% | 9.3% | 4.2% | 3.0% | 2.9% | €823 |
| Luxembourg | 20.8% | 3.5% | 8.2% | 2.9% | 2.3% | 2.5% | €828 |
| Italy | 20.6% | 1.9% | 8.7% | 5.9% | 1.1% | 1.7% | €829 |
| Portugal | 20.5% | 0.9% | 8.1% | 5.3% | 2.7% | 2.2% | €830 |
| Ireland | 20.4% | 2.4% | 8.1% | 5.2% | 1.3% | 2.1% | €830 |
| Cyprus | 18.5% | 2.3% | 8.1% | 3.9% | 2.3% | 0.8% | €844 |
| Malta | 18.3% | 0.7% | 6.1% | 5.6% | 2.4% | 2.4% | €845 |
| France | 18.0% | 2.1% | 5.9% | 5.7% | 2.3% | 0.9% | €848 |
| Denmark | 17.9% | 1.9% | 8.5% | 3.4% | 1.3% | 1.8% | €848 |
| Finland | 17.4% | 2.1% | 7.2% | 4.3% | 1.0% | 1.8% | €852 |
2022, the peak year
Prices rose fastest in 2022, by 9.2% on average in the EU and by 19.4% in Estonia, the most. Energy and food led the rise, and they weigh more in household budgets in Central and Eastern Europe, which is one reason those countries were hit about twice as hard as the west of the EU.
2025: calmer, but not everywhere
By 2025 the EU average was back to 2.5%. The rate was highest in Romania (6.8%) and lowest in Cyprus (0.8%).
Show the data as a table
| Country | Inflation 2025 |
|---|---|
| Romania | 6.8% |
| Estonia | 4.8% |
| Croatia | 4.4% |
| Hungary | 4.4% |
| Slovakia | 4.2% |
| Latvia | 3.8% |
| Austria | 3.6% |
| Bulgaria | 3.5% |
| Lithuania | 3.4% |
| Poland | 3.3% |
| Belgium | 3.0% |
| Netherlands | 3.0% |
| Greece | 2.9% |
| Spain | 2.7% |
| Sweden | 2.6% |
| Luxembourg | 2.5% |
| Slovenia | 2.5% |
| EU average | 2.5% |
| Malta | 2.4% |
| Czechia | 2.3% |
| Germany | 2.3% |
| Portugal | 2.2% |
| Ireland | 2.1% |
| Denmark | 1.8% |
| Finland | 1.8% |
| Italy | 1.7% |
| France | 0.9% |
| Cyprus | 0.8% |
What it means
Inflation compounds: the five yearly rates multiply, they do not simply add up. Wages also grew fastest in many of the high-inflation countries, so whether people became poorer differs from country to country. Money kept in cash or in accounts that pay little interest lost the most.
See what your salary buys and how it changed over the years:
Purchasing powerSalary historyCompound interestSources and method
- Eurostat, HICP – annual average rate of change (prc_hicp_aind), 2021–2025, updated 2026-02-06.
- The rise over the whole period multiplies the yearly rates: (1 + rate 2021) × … × (1 + rate 2025) − 1. The value of €1,000 is 1,000 divided by that total.
- EU countries only: Eurostat’s HICP series used here covers the 27 EU members and the EU average.