Inflation in the OECD area hits 30-year high in December 2021, reaching 6.6%
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3 Feb 2022 - Inflation in the OECD area rose to 6.6% in the 12 months to December 2021, compared with 5.9% in November, and just 1.2% in December 2020, reaching its highest rate since July 1991. This increase was driven in part by a surge in annual inflation in Turkey (to 36.1% in December, after 21.3% in November). Excluding Turkey, inflation in the OECD area increased more moderately (to 5.6%, after 5.3% in November1).
Energy prices soared by 25.6% in the OECD area in the 12 months to December 2021, two percentage points (p.p.) lower than November's 27.6%, but high compared with 4.2% in December 2020. Food price inflation in the OECD area picked up strongly to 6.8% in December, compared with 5.5% in November and 3.2% in December 2020. Excluding food and energy, OECD year-on-year inflation also rose sharply, to 4.6%, compared with 3.9% in November, and contributed significantly to headline inflation in a number of large economies.
For 2021 as a whole, annual inflation in the OECD rose to 4.0%, compared with 1.4% in 2020, the highest annual average rate since 2000. Energy prices increased by 15.4%, the highest rate since 1981. By comparison, they had decreased by 6.5% in 2020. Excluding food and energy, annual inflation rose to 2.9%, compared with 1.8% in 2020.
Consumer prices, selected areas
December 2021, percentage change on the same period of the previous year, %
Source: Consumer price indices, OECD
Energy (CPI) and Food (CPI), selected areas
December 2019 - December 2021, percentage change on the same period of the previous year, %
Source: Consumer price indices, OECD
Underlying data:
- OECD, annual inflation
- G20, annual inflation
- OECD countries, contributions to annual CPI inflation by COICOP Division, current month (xlsx)
- OECD countries, contributions to annual CPI inflation, selected components, historical series (xlsx)
- G7 & non-OECD countries, zone aggregates, inflations rates, historical series graphs (xls)
1. Please note that inflation figures for the OECD area excluding Turkey are not available on OECD.Stat.
