The European Union's statistics office said on the 16th that consumer prices in the 21-nation eurozone rose 3.8% in September from a year earlier, confirming its earlier estimate. The figure matched the flash reading released on the 2nd and was 0.6 percentage points higher than August's 3.2%.
Eurozone inflation had been stable at 1.9% in February but climbed sharply after the Iran war broke out at the end of that month, reaching 2.6% in March, 3.0% in April and 3.2% in May. The rate eased to 2.8% in June before rebounding to 2.9% in July and 3.2% in August, then widened significantly in September.
On a monthly basis, consumer prices rose 0.6% in September from the previous month. Energy accounted for 1.71 percentage points of the 3.8% annual increase, or about 45% of the total.
Annual inflation rates in the bloc's major economies also showed little change from the flash estimates. Germany recorded 3.3%, France 3.4%, Italy 4.2% and Spain 5.0%.
Across all 27 EU member states, Sweden posted the lowest rate at 1.0%, followed by Hungary and Denmark at 2.1% each. Romania, at 6.1%, and Bulgaria, at 5.6%, registered the highest levels. Of these, Sweden, Denmark, Hungary and Romania are not eurozone members.