Euro area inflation went up to 2.9 percent in July, and energy is the only component of the four that is running in double digits
Ten percent. That is where Eurostat's flash estimate puts euro area energy prices in July against a year earlier, after 8.5 percent in June, and it is the reason the headline rate went up rather than down.
Annual inflation across the bloc is estimated at 2.9 percent for July, from 2.8 percent in June. The estimate was published on Friday morning.
Of the four main components, energy carries the smallest weight, 90.3 parts in 1,000, and produced most of the movement. The other three did comparatively little. Services are estimated at 3.3 percent, from 3.2 percent. Non-energy industrial goods at 0.9 percent, from 0.7 percent. Food, alcohol and tobacco fell again, to 1.2 percent from 1.5 percent, with unprocessed food inside it down to 2.5 percent from 3.1 percent.
The core measures did not fall
There are three of them on the release and they disagree only slightly. All items excluding energy held at 2.2 percent. Excluding energy and unprocessed food, 2.2 percent against 2.1 percent. Excluding energy, food, alcohol and tobacco, which is the measure most often quoted as core, 2.5 percent against 2.4 percent.
On the month, the all-items index is estimated to have risen 0.2 percent. Services rose 1.1 percent on the month and energy 2.4 percent, while non-energy industrial goods fell 2.2 percent, which is the summer sales season showing up where it usually does.
Where the member states sit
Lithuania is estimated highest at 5.6 percent, and it is the only member state above 5. Bulgaria, in its first year inside the euro area, follows at 4.1 percent, down from 5.2 percent in June. Cyprus is at 4.0 percent, Spain at 3.8 percent and Belgium at 3.5 percent.
At the other end, Estonia is estimated at 2.0 percent, Malta at 2.1 percent, France at 2.4 percent and Latvia at 2.5 percent.
France is worth pausing on, because Insee published its own provisional July index the same morning and reported two different numbers for the same month. The national index read 2.1 percent. The harmonised index, which is the one Eurostat aggregates and the one that appears in this table, read 2.4 percent. Germany is estimated at 2.8 percent and Italy at 2.9 percent, so the bloc's two largest economies both sit within a tenth of the average this month.
Greece recorded the largest fall, to 2.7 percent from 3.9 percent. Its monthly rate is estimated at minus 1.4 percent, the steepest on the table.
One note on the aggregate for anyone building a series across the turn of the year. Bulgaria joined the euro area on 1 January 2026, so figures up to December 2025 describe 20 member states and figures from January 2026 describe 21. Eurostat says it chains the change in rather than restating history.
