Romania has the highest inflation in the EU, for the third month in a row

In February, Romania recorded the highest level of the Harmonized Index of Consumer Prices (an inflation indicator that allows for comparisons of inflation across Europe) in the EU, at 7.1%, followed by Iceland (5.3%). The lowest inflation rates were recorded in Latvia, Denmark, and Italy (each below 1%), according to Eurostat.

It’s true that each country calculates inflation differently because consumption habits vary from one country to another. When measuring price increases, the National Institute of Statistics considers not only the products on store shelves but also their share in our consumption.

The most significant changes regarding the importance given to items on the INS list are: expenses on vacation hotels (which have increased 72 times in 10 years), followed by clothing (especially textiles, with an 8-fold increase in share in the consumption basket), washing machines, and milk (with proportions more than 3 times higher). On the other hand, the most significant decreases in the share of the consumption basket are for sugar, bread, and train travel, whose impact on consumption has decreased by almost half since 2013. The weights used for calculating the IPC are obtained from the Household Budget Survey (HBS) and reflect the average monthly expenditure structure of a household for purchasing goods and services necessary to meet living needs. These weights are analyzed and updated annually, reflecting changes in the consumption behavior of the population.