The cost of living was on average 10 percent higher in 2022 than a year earlier. Inflation was still 2.7 percent in 2021. The price increase of 2022 is the highest since 1975, the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) reports. In that year, consumer products were on average 10.2 percent more expensive than one year previously.
The price development of energy, such as electricity, gas and district heating, in particular, contributed to the high inflation in 2022. Energy was on average 114 percent more expensive than in 2021. The contribution of energy to total inflation in 2022 was 4.6 percentage points.
Food and motor fuels were also more expensive. Food was 10.8 percent more expensive than twelve months previously. In 2021, food prices fell by 0.2 percent. The rise in food prices was mainly caused by meat, dairy products, bread and grains, and vegetables.
Motor fuels were 18.1 percent more expensive than the year before, in 2021 the price development was 16.8 percent. A liter of petrol cost an average of 2.07 euros in 2022, compared to 1.82 euros in 2021. The price of a liter of diesel was 1.96 euros, compared to 1.46 euros a year earlier.
Last week, Statistics Netherlands already reported that collectively agreed wages had risen by 3.2 percent in 2022. According to provisional figures, the increase in collectively agreed wages this year is therefore 6.8 percentage points lower than the increase in consumer prices.
The statistics office also announced the inflation figure for December last Friday. It showed that inflation fell to 9.6 percent last month. In November, consumer goods and services were still 9.9 percent more expensive than twelve months previously. At the peak in September, inflation was still 14.5 percent.
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