Based on a quick calculation, Statistics Netherlands (CBS) has estimated that Dutch inflation rates reached 4,1 percent in December 2024. This is the highest inflation rate measured in almost 18 months.
The CBS estimate shows that consumer goods and services were 3,3 percent more expensive in 2024 compared to the previous year. Some of the main products and services in the Netherlands that saw higher prices in December specifically were food, alcohol and tobacco, as well as the cost of rent and energy.
According to NOS, some items became cheaper, such as household appliances, carpeting, toys and vegetables. The exact list of what products and services became the most expensive during the last month of the year will be published by CBS later this month.
When calculated using the European harmonised consumer price index (HICP), which does not take a household’s cost of living into account, inflation in the Netherlands for December stands at 3,9 percent - almost double the eurozone average of nearly 2 percent. The chances of this improving do not seem great either as the Dutch central bank previously warned that inflation would stay relatively high in 2025, predicting it to fall to only around 3,2 percent.
Due to the high inflation experienced in 2024, wages saw the largest increase in more than 40 years. While salaries rose by more than 6 percent last year, workers are not likely to see such large increases this year. The employers’ organisation AWVN expects wages to rise by just under 5 percent in 2025.
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