EUROPEAN UNION/EUROZONE & IRISH INFLATION

Month	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009
January	2.7	2.3	1.9	1.9	2.4	1.8	3.2	1.1
February	2.4	2.4	1.6	2.1	2.3	1.8	3.3	1.2
March	2.5	2.4	1.7	2.1	2.2	1.9	3.5	0.6
April	2.4	2.1	2.0	2.1	2.4	1.9	3.3	0.6
May	2.0	1.9	2.4	2.0	2.5	1.9	3.7	0.0
June	1.8	2.0	2.4	2.1	2.5	1.9	4.0	-0.1
July	1.9	1.9	2.3	2.2	2.4	1.8	4.0	-0.7
August	2.1	2.1	2.3	2.2	2.3	1.7	3.8	-0.2
September	2.1	2.3	2.1	2.6	1.7	2.1	3.6	-0.3
October	2.3	2.0	2.4	2.5	1.6	2.6	3.2	-0.1
November	2.2	2.2	2.2	2.3	1.9	3.1	2.1	0.5
December	2.3	1.8	2.4	2.2	1.9	3.1	1.6	0.9
Source Eurostat

Eurozone annual inflation was 0.9% in December 2009, up from 0.5% in November. A year earlier the rate was 1.6%. Monthly inflation was 0.3% in December 2009. The annual average rate of inflation in 2009 was 0.3%, down from 3.3% in 2008.

EU3 annual inflation was 1.4% in December 2009, up from 1.0% in November. A year earlier the rate was 2.2%. Monthly inflation was 0.2% in December 2009. The annual average rate of inflation in 2009 was 1.0%, down from 3.7% in 2008.

These figures come from Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.

Inflation in the EU Member States

In December 2009, the lowest annual rates were observed in Ireland (-2.6%), Estonia (-1.9%) and Latvia (-1.4%), and the highest in Hungary (5.4%), Romania (4.7%) and Poland (3.8%). Compared with November 2009, annual inflation rose in twenty Member States, remained stable in four and fell in two.

The lowest 12-month averages4 up to December 2009 were registered in Ireland (-1.7%), Portugal (-0.9%) and Spain (-0.3%), and the highest in Romania (5.6%), Lithuania (4.2%), Hungary and Poland (both 4.0%).

Eurozone

The main components with the highest annual rates in December 2009 were alcohol & tobacco (4.8%), transport (3.5%) and miscellaneous goods & services (2.4%), while the lowest annual rates were observed for food (-1.3%), communications (-0.8%) and housing (-0.3%). Concerning the detailed sub-indices, fuels for transport (+0.42 percentage points) and tobacco (+0.13) had the largest upward impacts on the headline rate, while gas (-0.33) and cars (-0.10) had the biggest downward impacts.

The main components with the highest monthly rates were recreation & culture (2.0%) and hotels & restaurants (1.0%), while the lowest were clothing (-0.5%) and communications (-0.2%). In particular, package holidays (+0.18 percentage points) and accommodation services (+0.08) had the largest upward impacts, while fuels for transport and garments (-0.05 each) had the biggest downward impacts.

The Eurozone initially included Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Spain, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal and Finland. Greece was included from January 2001, Slovenia from January 2007, Cyprus and Malta from January 2008 and Slovakia from January 2009.