In November 2011, the lowest annual rates were observed in Sweden (1.1%), Malta (1.5%) and Ireland (1.7%), and the highest in Slovakia and the United Kingdom (both 4.8%), Estonia, Lithuania and Poland (all 4.4%). Compared with October 2011, annual inflation fell in fourteen Member States, remained stable in three and rose in ten.
The lowest 12-month averages4 up to November 2011 were registered in Ireland (1.1%), Sweden (1.5%), the Czech Republic and Slovenia (both 2.1%), and the highest in Romania (6.2%), Estonia (5.2%) and the United Kingdom (4.4%).
Euro area
The main components with the highest annual rates in November 2011 were transport (5.4%), housing (5.3%) and alcohol & tobacco (4.3%), while the lowest annual rates were observed for communications (-1.7%), recreation & culture (0.5%) and education (0.9%). Concerning the detailed sub-indices, fuels for transport (+0.48 percentage points), heating oil (+0.22), gas (+0.12) and electricity (+0.11) had the largest upward impacts on the headline rate, while telecommunications (-0.15) and rents (-0.11) had the biggest downward impacts.
The main components with the highest monthly rates were food, alcohol & tobacco and miscellaneous goods & services (all 0.4%), while the lowest were hotels & restaurants (-0.6%), recreation & culture (-0.3%) and health (-0.2%). In particular, vegetables and heating oil (+0.04 each) had the largest upward impacts, while accommodation services (-0.07) and package holidays (-0.05) had the biggest downward impacts.
