Prices and index
How much more expensive is life getting?
In September 2026, prices were on average 4.5 % higher than a year earlier (Belgium). What you bought then for € 100 now costs about € 104.50. Across the European Union it was 3.8 %.
What is inflation? (click to read)
- Inflation is how much more expensive the same groceries, rent, energy, transport… have become than a year earlier, averaged over everything households buy.
- A negative figure means that prices fell on average.
- We use Eurostat’s European inflation figures (HICP), so you can compare countries. A country’s national figure may differ slightly.
Inflation per month
How much more expensive everything was than in the same month a year earlier.
The highest point in this period was 13.1 % in October 2022.
What got more expensive?
Price increase over one year, in September 2026.
Food and drinks
-0.4 %
Housing and energy
12.9 %
Transport
8.9 %
The index in Belgium
In Belgium, wages, pensions and benefits rise with prices. For this the government does not use ordinary inflation but the health index, which leaves out tobacco, alcohol, petrol and diesel. The average of the last four months is the smoothed health index. As soon as it exceeds a set threshold (the pivot index), benefits and public-sector wages, among others, are adjusted.
Health index
140.67
4.0 % over one year
Smoothed health index
137.20
3.4 % over one year · used for indexation
Consumer price index
141.28
All products
Figures for September 2026, base 2013 = 100. Source: Statbel.
Sources: Eurostat, harmonised index of consumer prices (HICP, CC BY 4.0) and Statbel, consumer price index and health index (CC BY 4.0).