Euro area annual inflation was 1.9% in October 2010, up from 1.8% in September. A year earlier the rate was -0.1%. Monthly inflation was 0.4% in October 2010.

EU annual inflation was 2.3% in October 2010, up from 2.2% in September. A year earlier the rate was 0.5%. Monthly inflation was 0.3% in October 2010.

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

Inflation in the EU Member States

In October 2010, the lowest annual rates were observed in Ireland (-0.8%), Latvia (0.9%) and Slovakia (1.0%), and the highest in Romania (7.9%), Greece (5.2%) and Estonia (4.5%). Compared with September 2010, annual inflation rose in fifteen Member States, remained stable in six and fell in five.

The lowest 12-month averages up to October 2010 were registered in Ireland (-1.9%), Latvia (-1.8%) and Slovakia (0.5%) and the highest in Romania (5.5%), Hungary (4.9%) and Greece (4.3%).

Euro area

The main components with the highest annual rates in October 2010 were transport (4.3%), alcohol & tobacco (3.4%) and housing (3.2%), while the lowest annual rates were observed for communications (-1.1%), recreation & culture (0.1%) and clothing (0.4%). Concerning the detailed sub-indices, fuels for transport (+0.44 percentage points), heating oil (+0.14) and gas (+0.08) had the largest upward impacts on the headline rate, while telecommunications (-0.10) and garments (-0.09) had the biggest downward impacts.

The main components with the highest monthly rates were clothing (3.3%), education (0.6%) and housing (0.4%), while the lowest were communications (-0.3%), recreation & culture and hotels & restaurants (0.0% each). In particular, garments (+0.16 percentage points) and footwear (+0.04) had the largest upward impacts, while package holidays (-0.03) had the biggest downward impact.