Consumer price index of December 2025

• Inflation goes from 2.40% to 2.06% in December.
• The consumer price index this month increased by 0.09 points or 0.07%.
• Inflation based on the health index has fallen from 2.45% in November to 2.21% in December.
• The smoothed health index amounted to 133.33 points in December. The central index for public service and social benefits, set at 133.28 points, was therefore exceeded.
• Core inflation, which does not take into account price evolutions of energy products and unprocessed food, stood at 3.00% in December, compared to 3.10% in November.
• The main price increases in December were registered for plane tickets, hotel rooms, travels abroad and city trips and private rents. Household appliances and repairs, data processing equipment, motor fuels, natural gas, fruit and holiday villages and camping sites, on the other hand, have had a decreasing effect on the index.

Inflation now amounts to 2.06% compared to 2.40% in November and 2.00% in October. Inflation based on the health index amounted to 2.21% this month compared to 2.45% in November and 2.11% in October. Inflation without energy now amounts to 2.98% compared to 3.05% last month and 2.58% in October. Core inflation, which does not take into account price evolutions of energy products and unprocessed food, amounts to 3.00% in December, compared to 3.10% in November and 2.58% in October.

Comment on inflation

With regard to energy, inflation stands this month at -5.00% compared to -2.22% in November and -1.85% in October. For electricity, inflation is currently at 3.2% compared to 7.8% last month. For natural gas, it went from -9.2% last month to -13.6% this month. The price of natural gas decreased by 1.2% compared to last month and that of electricity rose by 0.4%. Prices for domestic heating oil, calculated based on a smoothed 12-month moving average, have declined by 7.3% over a year. Motor fuels cost 2.2% less than in December last year and decreased by 1.5% this month compared to the previous month.

Inflation for services has gone up to 4.54% from 4.52%. Inflation for rent remains stable at 3.91%. Inflation for food products (including alcoholic beverages) stands at 2.65% this month, compared to 3.00% last month.

Energy inflation goes from -2.22% in November to -5.00% in December and accounts for -0.57 percentage points to total inflation. Food, with an inflation rate of 2.65%, accounts for 0.50 percentage points.

The price of natural gas has decreased by 1.2% in December compared to the previous month. Prices for electricity have gone up by 0.4% on average this month.

Some products and services that rose sharply in price compared to December last year are:

Some products and services that fell sharply in price compared to December last year are:

The main group with the largest upward effect ^[i] on inflation in December was “Hotels, cafés and restaurants” with an effect of 0.20 percentage point. The largest downward effect was measured for “Housing, water and energy” with -0.51 percentage points.

The main group with the largest contribution ^[ii] to inflation in December is “Food and non-alcoholic beverages” with 0.48 percentage points. The group “Housing, water and energy” provided a negative contribution of -0.03 percentage points.

The first inflation estimate according to the European harmonised index of consumer prices (HICP flash estimate) amounts to 2.2% in December 2025.

Comment on the level of the indices

The consumer price index has increased by 0.09 points or 0.07% in December and now amounts to 136.29 points, compared to 136.20 points in November (2013=100). The health index has gone up by 0.20 point to 136.69 points in December, compared to 136.49 points in November. The smoothed health index amounts to 133.33 points in December and therefore exceeds the central index for public service and social benefits, set at 133.28 points. The next central index is set at 135.95 points. This means that social security benefits, pensions and wages in the public sector will be indexed in March 2026.

The main price increases in December were registered for plane tickets, hotel rooms, travels abroad and city trips and private rents. Household appliances and repairs, data processing equipment, motor fuels, natural gas, fruit and holiday villages and camping sites, on the other hand, have had a decreasing effect on the index.

The most important trends this month are:

Plane tickets became on average 29.9% more expensive in December. Hotel room prices increased by 8.1% on average in December. The price of travels abroad and city trips has also increased this month by 1.7% on average. Private rents are on average 0.4% more expensive.

Prices of household appliances and repairs have decreased on average by 12.3%. The price of data processing equipment has gone down by 15.2% on average this month. Motor fuels have also decreased in price, by 1.5% on average. Natural gas has become on average 1.2% less expensive. The price of fruit has gone down by 1.8% on average this month. Holiday villages and camping sites have become on average 3.1% less expensive in December.

* defined in the law of 23 April 2015 on the promotion of employment (Belgian Official Journal of 27 April 2015)

^[i] The effect on inflation shows the changes on the inflation rate by including this product group in the CPI calculation. The effect not only takes the weight of the product group into account, but it also takes into account whether the product group inflation is higher or lower than that of the total expenditure (overall CPI).

^[ii] The contribution to inflation of a specific product group shows how much of the change in the total expenditure is due to the price variation of this product group.