Euro area annual inflation was 2.1 per cent in September, up from 1.7 per cent in August. A year earlier the rate was 1.7 per cent. Monthly inflation was 0.4 per cent in September.

EU annual inflation was 2.2 per cent in September 2007, up from 1.9 per cent in August. A year earlier the rate was 1.9 per cent. Monthly inflation was 0.4 per cent in September.

These figures come from Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities.

Inflation in the EU member states

In September, the lowest annual rates were observed in Malta (0.9 per cent), Denmark (1.2 per cent) and the Netherlands (1.3 per cent), and the highest rates in Latvia (11.5 per cent), Bulgaria (11.0 per cent) and Estonia (7.5 per cent). Compared with August 2007, annual inflation rose in 24 Member States, remained stable in one and fell in one.

The lowest 12-month averages up to September 2007 were in Malta (0.4 per cent), France and Finland (both 1.4 per cent); the highest were in Latvia (8.2 per cent), Hungary (7.8 per cent) and Bulgaria (6.2 per cent).

Euro area

The main components with the highest annual rates in September were education (9.1 per cent), alcohol and tobacco (3.8 per cent) and hotels and restaurants (3.1 per cent), while the lowest annual rates were observed for communications (-1.6 per cent), recreation and culture (0.2 per cent) and clothing (0.9 per cent). Concerning the detailed sub-indices, fuels for transport (+0.12 percentage points), restaurants and cafés (+0.10) and tobacco (+0.08) had the largest upward impacts on the headline rate, while telecommunications (-0.12), audio-visual equipment and IT equipment (-0.07 each) had the biggest downward impacts.

The main components with the highest monthly rates were clothing (6.1 per cent), education (1.0 per cent) and food (0.6 per cent), and the lowest were hotels and restaurants (-1.1 per cent), recreation and culture (-0.7 per cent) and communications (-0.3 per cent). In particular, garments (+0.29 percentage points) and footwear (+0.07) had the largest upward impacts, while accommodation services (-0.13) and package holidays (-0.10) had the biggest downward impacts.