Cost Of Living Climbing For Expats In Europe

The cost of living in the European Union climbed an average 1.6% in June – the same as the official data reported in May.

The year-on-year figure has fallen 0.5% from 2.1%, says Eurostat, the official EU data tracker.

The European Central Bank (ECB), whose monetary policy committee meets next week, targets a rate of close to but below 2%.

MCP members have expressed readiness to step in to support increasing inflation by raising interest rates.

Highest and lowest rates

The most expensive inflation rates are in Romania (3.9%), Hungary (3.4%) and Latvia (3.1%).

The lowest are in Greece (0.2%), Cyprus (0.3%), Denmark and Croatia (both 0.5%).

Across Europe, the cost of living rate dropped in 17 countries, was the same in one and increased in nine.

The highest contribution to annual eurozone inflation came from services (+0.73%), followed by food, alcohol & tobacco (+0.30%), energy (+0.17%) and non-energy industrial goods (+0.07%).

Inflation in the United states is running at an annual rate of 1.6% – up 0.1% from April, but down from 1.9% a year ago.

Read the full Eurostat report

European Union/Eurozone inflation rates – May 2019

	Annual rate	Monthly rate
Eurozone	1.3%	0.2%
European Union	1.6%	0.1%
Belgium	1.3%	-0.1%
Bulgaria	2.3%	0.0%
Czech Republic	2.4%	0.2%
Denmark	0.5%	-0.3%
Germany	1.5%	0.3%
Estonia	2.6%	0.5%
Ireland	1.1%	0.2%
Greece	0.2%	0.6%
Spain	0.6%	-0.1%
France	1.4%	0.3%
Croatia	0.5%	0.3%
Italy	0.8%	0.1%
Cyprus	0.3%	1.2%
Latvia	3.1%	0.3%
Lithuania	2.4%	-0.3%
Luxembourg	1.5%	-0.3%
Hungary	3.4%	-0.2%
Malta	1.8%	1.3%
Netherlands	2.7%	-0.1%
Austria	1.6%	-0.1%
Poland	2.3%	0.2%
Portugal	0.7%	0.4%
Romania	3.9%	-0.4%
Slovenia	1.9%	0.3%
Slovakia	2.7%	0.1%
Finland	1.1%	0.0%
Sweden	1.6%	-0.2%
United Kingdom	1.9%	0.0%
Iceland	2.2%	1.6%
Norway	2.1%	0.1%
Switzerland	0.7%	0.2%

Source: Eurostat