Catalonia keeps inflation below the national average for nine consecutive months

BarcelonaCatalonia recorded an annual price increase lower than the Spanish average in November, which puts the Catalan inflation rate below the national rate for the ninth consecutive month, according to data from the Consumer Price Index (CPI, the indicator that measures the cost of living for families) published this Friday by the National Institute of Statistics.

Thus, last month the CPI in Catalonia increased by 2.6% compared to the same month in 2024, a rise that in the case of the State as a whole was 3%, as The INE itself had already announced this two weeks agoIf we compare price increases with respect to October, the rise was 0.3% in Catalonia and 0.2% in Spain. In total, since 2020 (the year the COVID-19 pandemic began), the cost of living has evolved in parallel in Catalonia and in Spain as a whole, but in recent months inflation has been higher in Spain. This has meant that, between January 2020 and November 2025, prices have ended up rising slightly less for Catalan families. Thus, the increase in prices of consumer goods and services from the beginning of 2020 until last month was 22.1% in Catalonia and 23.4% in Spain, a difference of 1.3 percentage points.

Both the Catalan and Spanish figures far exceed the 2% annual target set by the European Central Bank for long-term inflation. This is why unions have called for the current negotiations on the minimum wage between social partners and the Spanish government to approve an increase that compensates for the loss of purchasing power suffered by families since 2021, when prices began to rise sharply with the economic recovery following the pandemic. Furthermore, the Workers' Commissions (CCOO) has pointed out that housing prices in Spain have skyrocketed by 15% in 2025: "Neither this price increase nor the rise in mortgages or rents are reflected in the CPI," stated the union's research secretary, Carlos Gutiérrez.

Clothes go up, electricity goes down

The largest price increases were in clothing, which is typical at this time of year due to the approach of the Christmas holidays, when sales for fashion brands are usually higher. Specifically, between October and November, clothing and footwear became 5.2% more expensive in Catalonia. On the other hand, electricity and natural gas, and the price of tourism services, such as hotels, pulled the indicator down, with price decreases of 0.5% and 1%, respectively. Regarding food, which is one of the items that most affects household budgets, meat continued to rise in price, especially beef and lamb, with increases of 0.7% and 3.1% in Catalonia in just one month, respectively. Therefore, the cost of these two types of meat continues the upward trend it experienced last year, and in November was 12.7% more expensive than a year earlier in the case of beef and 7.2% more expensive in the case of lamb.

Eggs also continued their price climb, rising 5.2% compared to the previous month and an annual increase of 20.8%.

In contrast, pork prices fell by 0.8% month-on-month. This drop is expected to be even greater when the data for December is released, as the outbreak of African swine fever (ASF) in Collserola, which has driven down pork prices in wholesale markets across the country, had not yet been confirmed in November.

Core inflation (which excludes energy and fresh food, the more volatile items) also continued to rise for the fifth consecutive month in Spain, reaching 2.6% annually.

Confirmation of the pension increase

The confirmation by the INE of the November inflation data allows confirm the increase in pensions for 2026which will ultimately be 2.7%. The Spanish government's calculation is based on the average inflation rate between December 2024 and November 2025 (inclusive), so current data definitively validates the pension increase announced by the Ministry of Social Security. The current average retirement pension (€1,481.35 in 14 payments) will rise to €1,511.50 next year, an increase of €572, starting next January.