Household real consumption per capita grows in both the euro area and the EU

Announcement

Starting from this news release, several improvements are introduced to provide users with more relevant and precise information. These changes are made in the first two sections.

In ‘Overview’, both charts show household real consumption and income as indices rather than growth rates. This enables users to see more clearly how these two indicators have evolved over time.

In ‘Components of household real income’, income is now expressed in real terms and per capita and includes social transfers in kind from the public sector (such as public health and education), as in the ‘Overview’ section.

In both these sections, the real values are now obtained by deflating (price adjusting) with the price index of household actual final consumption, instead of the price index of household final consumption expenditure. The use of this deflator ensures better consistency with the concepts used for consumption and income.

Notes for users

Revisions and timetable

A first release, focusing on data for household saving and investment rates in the euro area, is published around 94 days after each quarter ends. Compared with the rate indicated in the first news release of 7 October 2025 on the euro area aggregate, the seasonally adjusted household saving rate of the second quarter of 2025 was revised upwards from 15.4% to 15.5%. The investment rate remained unrevised at 9.0%.

Compared with the rate indicated in the news release of 25 July 2025, the growth rate of household real income per capita for the first quarter of 2025 was revised from -0.1% to 0.1% for the euro area and from -0.2% to 0.0% for the EU. The growth rate of household real consumption per capita was revised upwards from -0.2% to -0.1% for the euro area and was left unrevised at -0.3% for the EU.

Please note that, in previous news releases, income and consumption in nominal terms were divided by the deflator of household final consumption expenditure. Using the deflator of actual final consumption provides better consistency with the concepts used for income and consumption.

For information, if the deflator of household final consumption expenditure had been used, the growth rate of household real income per capita for the second quarter of 2025 would have been 0.6% for the euro area and 0.7% for the EU (for both, 0.1 percentage point higher than the current published data), while the growth rate of household real consumption per capita would have been 0.3% for the euro area and 0.4% for the EU (no difference compared to the current data).

Methods and definitions

Household real income per capita is defined as the adjusted gross disposable income of households, in nominal terms, divided by the total population (source: national accounts) and by the deflator (price index) of household actual final consumption.

Household real consumption per capita is defined as the actual final consumption of households, in nominal terms, divided by the total population (source: national accounts) and by the deflator (price index) of household actual final consumption.

For more definitions, please consult the national accounts glossary.

The compilation of the European sector accounts follows the European System of Accounts 2010 (ESA 2010) and covers the period from the first quarter of 1999 onwards. The data come from a detailed set of seasonally adjusted quarterly European sector accounts released by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, and the European Central Bank (ECB).

Institutional sectors bring together economic units with broadly similar characteristics and behaviour, namely: households (including non-profit institutions serving households), non-financial corporations, financial corporations, government, and the rest of the world. For the rest of the world, to measure the external transactions of the euro area / European Union, it is necessary to remove cross-border flows within the area concerned.

Eurostat’s database includes detailed annual and quarterly sector accounts of Member States of the European Economic Area and derived key indicators published around 120 days after the end of each quarter (which also cover annual indicators such as debt-to-income ratios). A subset of quarterly key indicators is published around 94 days after the end of each quarter.

Due to the conversion to euro, the growth rates of European Union aggregates may be affected by movements in exchange rates.

Geographical information

The euro area (EA20) consists of 20 Member States: Belgium, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Croatia, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, Slovenia, Slovakia and Finland, plus the European Central Bank, the European Stability Mechanism and the European Financial Stability Facility.

The European Union (EU27) includes Belgium, Bulgaria, Czechia, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Croatia, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Hungary, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Finland and Sweden, plus the EU institutions.