As of 4 February 2026 onwards, the euro area HICP inflation will undergo major methodological changes, according to the announcement by Eurostat. On the same day, the ECB will also discontinue the current Indices of Consumer Prices - ICP dataset on the ECB Data Portal and replace it with a new HICP dataset that will accurately reflect the methodological changes by Eurostat.
The Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) for the euro area is published by the European Commission (Eurostat) and generally available from 1996 onwards for aggregates; product-level indices might start later. Euro area results are obtained by aggregating indices for individual countries.
The HICP is broken down following the European classification of individual consumption according to purpose (ECOICOP v. 2) and by goods and services special aggregates derived from it. The HICP covers monetary expenditure on final consumption by resident and non-resident households on the economic territory of the euro area. The seasonally adjusted HICP data are compiled by the ECB.
In addition to the HICP, the HICP dataset also contains the time series of the Owner-Occupied Housing Price Index (OOHPI), which tries to track the prices of owning and maintaining a dwelling based on purchase prices (both house prices of dwellings new to final consumers and construction prices for self-built dwellings) and maintainance costs (maintenance services and insurances). These data are provided by Eurostat as well.
HICPs measure changes in prices of goods and services covered by final household monetary consumption expenditure, including all indirect taxes paid by consumers. HICPs have a common coverage of goods and services across countries but country specific item lists and item weights. HICPs do not cover expenditure for owner occupied housing. For items fully or partly paid or refunded by the government, HICPs include only the share that is paid by the consumer (e.g. the "out-of-the-pocket" expenditure for health services). The HICPs are classified according to the classification ECOICOP v.2. Additional compiled aggregates are also published.
Monthly, Quarterly, Annual
2025=100
For information about the naming convention (series key dimensions and metadata), refer to the HICP underlying DSD (ECB_ICP3) maintained by the ECB.
Following the Maastricht Treaty, the aim of the HICP is to measure inflation by means of the consumer price index on a comparable basis, taking into account differences in national definitions. Please visit Eurostat's dedicated HICP website for further information.
Information on the OOHPI can be found on Eurostat's webpages on Housing Price Statistics.
The ECB provides seasonally adjusted time series for the full HICP and the main special aggregates (food, energy, services, industrial goods excluding energy). The seasonal adjustment is done using X-13 ARIMA models with the JDemetra+ software.
HICP - Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices
European Commission (Eurostat) and European Central Bank calculations based on Eurostat data.
A flash estimate of the HICP for the euro area and its countries is provided around the last working day of the reporting month. It is limited to the overall HICP and the most important special aggregates.
The full release of the HICP, including all breakdowns by ECOICOP v. 2, is released around the 17th of the month following the reference period.
Weights are updated annually in late February.
The OOHPI is published quarterly around 95 days after the end of the reference quarter (together with the House Price Index).
- EU regulation 2016/792 on harmonised indices of consumer prices and the house price index
- Implementing acts: see https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/hicp/legislation
Download the series catalogue containing a full list of series and associated metadata of the dataset HICP in CSV format (zipped)