Press release No. 311 of 31 August 2026
Consumer price index, August 2026:
+2.9% on the same month a year earlier (provisional)
+0.2% on the previous month (provisional)
Harmonised index of consumer prices, August 2026
+2.9% on the same month a year earlier (provisional)
+0.2% on the previous month (provisional)
WIESBADEN – The inflation rate in Germany is expected to be +2.9% in August 2026. It is measured as the change in the consumer price index (CPI) compared with the same month a year earlier. Based on the results available so far, the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) also reports that consumer prices increased by 0.2% on July 2026. The inflation rate excluding food and energy, often referred to as core inflation, is expected to stand at +2.4% in August 2026. Energy prices are expected to be up 10.5% on the same month of the previous year. The rise in energy prices therefore accelerated again in August (July 2026: +8.3% on July 2025; June 2026: +3.4% on June 2025).
| Overall index / subindex | Weight | May 2026 | June 2026 | July 2026 | August 2026 1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| per thousand | percent | ||||
| 1: Provisional figures. 2: Core inflation. 3: Household energy and motor fuels. | |||||
| Overall index | 1,000 | 2.6 | 2.3 | 2.8 | 2.9 |
| Overall index excluding food and energy2 | 821.41 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.4 | 2.4 |
| Services | 503.36 | 3.1 | 3.1 | 2.9 | 2.8 |
| Goods | 496.64 | 2.2 | 1.7 | 2.5 | 3.0 |
| including: | |||||
| Energy3 | 73.90 | 6.6 | 3.4 | 8.3 | 10.5 |
| Food | 104.69 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.1 |
Inflation Calculator for personal rate of inflation:
Consumers can use the Personal Inflation Calculator (only in German) of the Federal Statistical Office to adapt their monthly consumption expenditure on individual product groups according to their own consumption patterns and calculate their personal inflation rate.
Methodological notes:
The harmonised index of consumer prices (HICP) is calculated in addition to the national consumer price index (CPI) particularly to enable comparisons within the euro area. The HICP is the key measure for quantifying price stability within the framework of European monetary policy and is generally derived from the same data material on which the national CPI is based.
Apart from the individual purposes they serve, the CPI and the HICP differ in terms of coverage, methodology and weighting.
With effect from January 2026, substantial changes have been made to the HICP with regard to methodology and the classification used. Furthermore, the HICP result has been presented using the 2025 index base (2025=100) since January 2026. Up-to-date information on the changes concerning the HICP is provided in a web article on the “Harmonisierter Verbraucherpreisindex" (only in German) page of the website of the Federal Statistical Office. Explanatory notes and a methodological paper are also available there.
An overview of individual measures of the Federal Government which affect the national CPI and the HICP for Germany is provided on the "Consumer price index" page of the website of the Federal Statistical Office.
More information:
The final results for August 2026 will be released on 10 September 2026.