Volume of retail trade down by 0.2% in the euro area and by 0.3% in the EU

Overview

In December 2024, compared with November 2024, the seasonally adjusted retail trade volume decreased by 0.2% in the euro area and by 0.3% in the EU, according to first estimates from Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union. In November 2024, retail trade volume remained unchanged in the euro area and grew by 0.1% in the EU.

In December 2024, compared with December 2023, the calendar adjusted retail sales index increased by 1.9% in the euro area and by 2.0% in the EU.

The annual average level of retail trade volume for the year 2024, compared with 2023, increased by 1.0% in the euro area and by +1.3% in the EU.

Retail trade volume

Monthly comparison by retail sector and by Member State

In the euro area in December 2024, compared with November 2024, the volume of retail trade

decreased for food, drinks, tobacco by 0.7%,
increased for non-food products (except automotive fuel) by 0.3%,
increased for automotive fuel in specialised stores by 0.2%.

In the EU, the volume of retail trade

decreased for food, drinks, tobacco by 0.4%,
increased for non-food products (except automotive fuel) by 0.3%,
decreased for automotive fuel in specialised stores by 0.3%.

Among Member States for which data are available, the largest monthly decreases in the total retail trade volume were recorded in Slovenia (-2.2%), Germany (-1.6%) and Poland (-1.5%). The highest increases were observed in Slovakia (+8.2%), Finland (+2.1%) and Spain (+1.4%).

Annual comparison by retail sector and by Member State

In the euro area in December 2024, compared with December 2023, the volume of retail trade

increased for food, drinks, tobacco by 0.2%,
increased for non-food products (except automotive fuel) by 3.1%,
increased for automotive fuel in specialised stores by 1.2%.

In the EU, the volume of retail trade

increased for food, drinks, tobacco by 0.4%,
increased for non-food products (except automotive fuel) by 3.4%,
increased for automotive fuel in specialised stores by 0.7%.

Among Member States for which data are available, the highest annual increases in the total retail trade volume were recorded in Slovakia (+10.0%), Lithuania (+8.7%) and Luxembourg (+8.4%). Decreases were observed in Slovenia (-3.1%), Belgium (-2.4%) and Poland (-0.5%).

Tables

Volume of retail trade % change compared with the previous month*
	2024
	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Euro area
Total retail trade	0.6	1.0	0.6	-0.3	0.0	-0.2
Food, drinks, tobacco	0.0	0.9	-0.5	0.1	-0.1	-0.7
Non-food products (except automotive fuel)	0.8	1.3	1.3	-0.6	-0.4	0.3
Automotive fuel in specialised stores	-0.2	1.4	-0.7	-0.2	0.7	0.2
EU
Total retail trade	0.6	0.9	0.4	-0.1	0.1	-0.3
Food, drinks, tobacco	0.3	0.7	-0.2	0.0	-0.1	-0.4
Non-food products (except automotive fuel)	1.0	1.1	1.0	-0.3	-0.3	0.3
Automotive fuel in specialised stores	-0.7	1.0	-0.4	-0.4	1.1	-0.3
* Calendar and seasonally adjusted Source dataset: sts_trtu_m

Volume of retail trade % change compared with the previous month*
				2024
	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Euro area	0.6	1.0	0.6	-0.3	0.0	-0.2
EU	0.6	0.9	0.4	-0.1	0.1	-0.3
Belgium	1.1	0.2	2.1	-1.7	-2.4	1.3
Bulgaria	0.8	-0.8	0.6	1.3	1.4	0.5
Czechia	0.8	0.1	-0.1	0.4	-0.1	c
Denmark	-0.1	-1.5	2.3	-1.2	1.1	-0.3
Germany	0.7	0.8	1.7	-0.2	0.0	-1.6
Estonia	0.6	0.8	-0.8	1.7	0.5	1.1
Ireland	0.7	-0.5	0.7	-0.5	1.1	0.4
Greece	-3.1	-1.5	2.3	-1.8	2.3	c
Spain	0.6	0.6	1.0	0.0	-0.6	1.4
France	0.1	3.2	-1.0	-0.4	0.2	-0.2
Croatia	2.1	-0.5	1.4	0.6	0.7	0.6
Italy	0.3	0.1	0.4	-0.2	-0.3	0.3
Cyprus	-0.7	1.8	0.3	-1.1	2.3	-0.1
Latvia	1.4	0.2	0.1	0.4	1.4	0.5
Lithuania	1.4	0.0	0.6	2.1	1.1	1.3
Luxembourg	0.5	-0.8	1.9	-0.7	0.5	0.2
Hungary	0.1	0.7	-1.4	1.2	0.6	-1.2
Malta	0.6	0.4	0.1	0.4	0.9	0.5
Netherlands	0.6	1.0	-0.1	-0.1	-0.2	-0.2
Austria	3.2	0.0	0.9	-0.1	0.6	-0.4
Poland	2.4	-0.1	-1.9	2.2	-0.2	-1.5
Portugal	-0.3	1.0	-0.4	1.4	0.2	0.7
Romania	-1.6	1.6	1.1	0.9	0.0	-1.3
Slovenia	2.0	-0.8	-1.4	1.0	0.6	-2.2
Slovakia	2.0	-1.0	1.2	0.7	0.4	8.2
Finland	0.0	1.1	-2.0	0.2	0.0	2.1
Sweden	0.8	0.5	0.0	0.4	0.7	1.3
Norway	1.0	0.1	-0.2	0.3	0.4	-0.1
Switzerland	2.0	0.5	-1.2	0.5	-0.1	0.6
* Calendar and seasonally adjusted c Confidential Source dataset: sts_trtu_m

Volume of retail trade % change compared with the same month of the previous year*
	2024
	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Euro area
Total retail trade	0.3	2.5	3.2	2.1	1.6	1.9
Food, drinks, tobacco	-0.2	1.4	0.1	0.8	0.8	0.2
Non-food products (except automotive fuel)	0.3	2.5	5.6	3.1	2.0	3.1
Automotive fuel in specialised stores	0.3	5.2	2.4	1.3	1.1	1.2
EU
Total retail trade	0.7	2.6	2.9	2.3	1.8	2.0
Food, drinks, tobacco	0.1	1.4	0.3	0.8	0.9	0.4
Non-food products (except automotive fuel)	1.0	2.6	5.3	3.3	2.3	3.4
Automotive fuel in specialised stores	0.1	4.1	1.7	0.1	1.4	0.7
* Calendar adjusted Source dataset: sts_trtu_m

Volume of retail trade % change compared with the same month of the previous year*
	2024
	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Euro area	0.3	2.5	3.2	2.1	1.6	1.9
EU	0.7	2.6	2.9	2.3	1.8	2.0
Belgium	-4.0	-1.7	-0.7	-2.5	-5.4	-2.4
Bulgaria	6.8	4.9	4.8	5.1	6.8	7.8
Czechia	5.0	5.0	4.7	5.2	4.3	c
Denmark	3.3	-1.6	2.6	0.0	1.6	0.5
Germany	0.0	2.2	4.6	2.5	3.2	1.9
Estonia	-3.1	-2.7	-4.4	-1.6	-0.2	1.1
Ireland	1.0	-1.4	1.3	1.4	1.3	2.5
Greece	-2.5	-5.1	-0.6	-1.5	1.1	c
Spain	1.2	2.4	4.4	3.7	0.8	4.3
France	-0.6	5.2	3.4	2.6	1.8	1.8
Croatia	7.9	5.7	7.0	6.7	6.7	6.5
Italy	-0.2	0.1	2.5	1.0	-0.8	1.4
Cyprus	2.0	5.8	5.9	3.4	6.2	5.5
Latvia	0.8	0.9	0.7	0.3	3.5	3.4
Lithuania	5.6	4.2	4.7	6.7	7.1	8.7
Luxembourg	20.8	21.6	20.8	15.9	14.6	8.4
Hungary	2.5	4.0	1.8	3.6	4.0	0.1
Malta	3.1	3.1	2.7	2.5	4.2	4.5
Netherlands	1.9	2.4	1.5	1.0	0.3	0.4
Austria	-0.3	0.7	2.2	2.7	2.9	3.1
Poland	2.0	1.1	-3.0	0.8	0.7	-0.5
Portugal	2.4	5.5	3.8	5.5	5.6	6.0
Romania	6.5	8.7	10.4	10.2	8.7	6.1
Slovenia	3.0	1.6	-1.2	-0.5	0.4	-3.1
Slovakia	5.2	1.1	3.9	4.6	4.9	10.0
Finland	-1.5	0.6	-2.7	-2.5	-2.7	2.3
Sweden	0.0	0.7	1.8	0.1	2.8	5.3
Norway	-0.7	0.0	-0.6	-0.3	0.2	0.7
Switzerland	2.6	2.8	1.4	1.9	1.4	2.5
* Calendar adjusted c Confidential Source dataset: sts_trtu_m

Volume of retail trade, calendar and seasonally adjusted indices (base year 2021)
	2024
	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Euro area	100.0	101.0	101.6	101.3	101.3	101.1
EU	100.5	101.4	101.8	101.7	101.8	101.5
Belgium	89.6	89.8	91.7	90.1	87.9	89.0
Bulgaria	111.9	111.0	111.7	113.1	114.7	115.3
Czechia	96.4	96.5	96.4	96.8	96.7	c
Denmark	94.0	92.6	94.7	93.6	94.6	94.3
Germany	96.7	97.5	99.2	99.0	99.0	97.4
Estonia	90.2	90.9	90.2	91.7	92.2	93.2
Ireland	109.0	108.5	109.3	108.8	110.0	110.4
Greece	98.1	96.6	98.8	97.0	99.2	c
Spain	106.5	107.1	108.2	108.2	107.5	109.0
France	101.9	105.2	104.2	103.8	104.0	103.8
Croatia	112.8	112.2	113.8	114.5	115.3	116.0
Italy	98.0	98.1	98.5	98.3	98.0	98.3
Cyprus	114.0	116.1	116.4	115.1	117.8	117.7
Latvia	102.4	102.6	102.7	103.1	104.5	105.0
Lithuania	103.2	103.2	103.8	106.0	107.2	108.6
Luxembourg	124.0	123.0	125.3	124.4	125.0	125.3
Hungary	99.4	100.1	98.7	99.9	100.5	99.3
Malta	115.6	116.1	116.2	116.7	117.7	118.3
Netherlands	99.9	100.9	100.8	100.7	100.5	100.3
Austria	96.4	96.4	97.3	97.2	97.8	97.4
Poland	108.1	108.0	106.0	108.3	108.1	106.5
Portugal	110.1	111.2	110.8	112.3	112.5	113.3
Romania	114.3	116.1	117.4	118.4	118.4	116.9
Slovenia	99.7	98.9	97.5	98.5	99.1	96.9
Slovakia	103.4	102.4	103.6	104.3	104.7	113.3
Finland	92.0	93.0	91.1	91.3	91.3	93.2
Sweden	93.5	94.0	94.0	94.4	95.1	96.3
Norway	92.1	92.2	92.0	92.3	92.7	92.6
Switzerland	100.1	100.6	99.4	99.9	99.8	100.4
c Confidential Source dataset: sts_trtu_m

Volume of retail trade, calendar adjusted indices (base year 2021)
	2024
	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Euro area	99.1	103.9	99.2	102.3	104.3	118.3
EU	100.0	104.1	99.4	102.9	105.1	118.4
Belgium	90.2	84.5	88.3	92.1	89.3	104.5
Bulgaria	116.2	115.9	112.9	116.2	121.4	127.8
Czechia	95.1	94.3	93.2	99.6	109.5	c
Denmark	93.1	93.4	90.2	91.3	102.4	109.2
Germany	97.7	94.4	96.2	100.7	106.2	109.0
Estonia	93.9	93.7	88.8	93.1	93.2	105.9
Ireland	99.4	102.2	102.9	102.5	128.7	162.1
Greece	103.7	103.7	100.6	96.6	99.4	c
Spain	115.0	106.3	106.0	107.5	107.0	127.2
France	85.6	123.0	101.1	104.0	105.0	125.6
Croatia	139.3	136.2	118.7	112.8	105.5	119.1
Italy	105.4	96.6	98.5	102.0	99.0	119.5
Cyprus	120.9	116.2	115.9	114.2	120.6	143.8
Latvia	107.0	107.7	100.3	101.1	101.6	119.0
Lithuania	108.6	109.5	102.7	107.4	106.0	122.0
Luxembourg	129.0	114.2	125.0	125.1	125.8	140.9
Hungary	102.5	103.0	97.2	103.5	105.4	117.6
Malta	121.6	116.8	111.3	116.4	124.9	131.4
Netherlands	102.2	96.3	96.5	101.3	105.1	111.1
Austria	97.9	95.0	96.0	99.6	99.0	111.5
Poland	109.1	109.7	105.3	111.6	109.0	121.7
Portugal	117.3	118.8	108.5	111.0	113.5	135.8
Romania	118.7	122.8	119.0	120.5	124.9	129.6
Slovenia	103.1	99.4	97.7	101.2	101.3	106.6
Slovakia	102.5	101.0	100.5	107.4	108.9	125.0
Finland	98.1	97.4	88.9	90.6	91.5	107.2
Sweden	96.3	95.0	90.0	94.3	100.2	108.2
Norway	91.2	94.4	88.2	90.6	101.1	108.9
Switzerland	99.3	95.4	94.4	99.8	107.2	121.1
c Confidential Source dataset: sts_trtu_m

Notes for users

Revisions and timetable

Data of previous months have been revised compared to those issued in the News Release of 9 January 2025. The monthly percentage change for November 2024 has been revised from +0.1% to 0.0% in the euro area and from +0.2% to +0.1% in the EU. The annual percentage change has been revised from +1.2% to +1.6% in the euro area and from +1.5% to +1.8% in the EU.

Methods and definitions

The index of the volume of retail trade measures the evolution of the turnover in retail trade, adjusted for price changes (deflated), i.e. the evolution of the total amount of goods sold, based on data adjusted for calendar and seasonal effects.

Seasonally adjusted euro area and EU series are calculated by aggregating the seasonally adjusted national data.

Missing observations from Member States for recent months are estimated for the calculation of the euro area and the EU aggregates.

Starting with reference period January 2024, the base year of the data has been changed to 2021, since 2018 the base year had been 2015. More information on the reasons for and impact of the base year change can be found in the related Statistics Explained article.

Geographical information

The euro area (EA20) includes Belgium, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Croatia, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, Slovenia, Slovakia and Finland.

The European Union (EU27) includes Belgium, Bulgaria, Czechia, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Croatia, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Hungary, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Finland and Sweden.