Households. Largest increase in savings rate in the EU

The household savings rate in the fourth quarter of 2024 was set at 15.2% in the eurozone and 14.5% in the European Union (EU), with Portugal recording the highest quarterly growth (2.1 percentage points), Eurostat announced this Monday.

In the euro area countries, the household savings rate increased compared to 14.8% in the same period last year and fell by a slight 0.1 percentage points (pp) compared to the third quarter of 2024.

In the EU, according to the European statistical service, the 14.5% household savings rate represents a year-on-year increase (13.7% in the fourth quarter of 2023) and also compared to the previous period.

Among the Member States for which data are available, Portugal showed, between October and December 2024, the largest quarter-on-quarter increase in the r indicator (2.1 pp), followed by Finland (1.5%) and Denmark (1.0%).

The Czech Republic (-0.9 pp), Hungary (-0.8 pp) and Italy (-0.7 pp) showed the biggest declines.

Regarding the household investment rate, in the euro area it slowed to 9.1%, both compared to 9.6% in the same period last year and compared to 9.2% in the third quarter of 2024.

In the EU, the household investment rate stood at 8.8% in the last three months of 2024, stable in the quarterly comparison but falling compared to the year-on-year figure of 9.3%.

Greece and Spain recorded the only quarterly increases, of 0.2 pp, while the largest declines were observed in Ireland (-1.3 pp), Hungary (-0.6 pp) and Denmark (-0.4 pp).

In Portugal, the household investment rate slowed by 0.1 percentage points between October and December 2024, compared to the previous quarter.

Eurostat does not provide year-on-year comparisons for these indicators.