October inflation stands at 3.6 percent, and the biggest burden on citizens comes from housing and energy costs.

According to the latest data published by the Croatian Bureau of Statistics, the prices of goods and services for personal consumption in October 2025 continued their upward trend. On an annual basis, that is, compared with the same month last year, average prices are higher by 3.6 percent.

Although at first glance this figure may not seem high, a more detailed analysis reveals that the biggest drivers of price increases are precisely those categories that are most essential to citizens’ livelihoods and impossible to avoid in everyday spending. When looking at the monthly change, prices rose on average by 0.6 percent compared with September this year, indicating that inflationary pressures have still not fully eased.

The biggest blow to citizens’ standard of living, for the third month in a row, comes from the housing and utility costs sector. Statistical data relentlessly show that in the group covering housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels, an increase of a high 8.4 percent was recorded on an annual basis. This category also makes the largest contribution to the overall inflation rate, which in layman’s terms means that utility bills and housing costs are precisely the ones "most responsible" for life being more expensive than last year. Immediately behind housing costs are services in restaurants and hotels, which became more expensive by 6.9 percent, while communication services recorded growth of 4.9 percent. The situation is no better in the health sector, where prices are higher by 4.7 percent, and particularly sensitive is the data on the increase in food and non-alcoholic beverage prices of 4.4 percent, since this is a cost that affects absolutely every household without exception.

It is interesting to note that not all categories recorded price growth on an annual basis, as there are also sectors in which a decline was recorded. Thus, clothing and footwear in October 2025 were cheaper by 2.2 percent compared with the same month a year earlier, and a similar downward trend in prices is also visible in the category of education with a decline of 1.5 percent and transport, which became cheaper by 1.1 percent. These data somewhat mitigate the overall rise in the cost of living, but given that food and utilities make up the lion’s share of the consumer basket of the average Croatian family, cheaper clothing can hardly offset higher amounts on gas or electricity bills.

When we focus exclusively on monthly movements and compare October with September 2025, the picture becomes somewhat different due to seasonal factors. Namely, the arrival of new autumn and winter collections in stores caused a strong monthly jump in clothing and footwear prices of as much as 8.0 percent. In addition, on a monthly basis as well, an increase in housing and energy costs of 1.4 percent is visible, which further confirms the thesis that utilities have become a pressing problem. On the other hand, after the tourist season there was a slight easing of prices in recreation and culture and in restaurants and hotels, while food prices recorded only a negligible decline on a monthly basis.

It is also worth mentioning the so-called Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices, which is used to compare inflation among European Union member states. According to that measure, inflation in Croatia in October 2025 amounts to 4.0 percent on an annual basis, which is somewhat higher than the national index, while on a monthly basis a slight decline of 0.2 percent was recorded. These data clearly suggest that, although we are not in a zone of galloping inflation, there is still no room for relaxation because key living costs continue to rise faster than less important items in the household budget.