Conclusion 

This 2024 Barometer reveals the bravery of Europeans.
While these are still difficult times for consumers, they demonstrated an impressive capacity to adapt in 2023.

They are now organising themselves to cope with the pressure that inflation and the rising cost of living is placing on their budgets. Although inflation is down this year, it remains at the heart of people’s concerns, leading them to adjust their budgeting choices and even to forego some purchases. Today, nobody is spared from having to make trade-offs, not even high-income earners.

So, is the worst over? Europeans are invariably living with a great deal of uncertainty. However, there is a glimmer of hope on the horizon. According to the European Commission, rising wages, continued employment growth and falling inflation should boost purchasing power in 2024 and 2025, which should in turn stimulate consumption.

These positive forecasts still seem a long way off for many Europeans, particularly with the uptick in inflation in December. Of course, it will be important to keep an eye on saving levels. Indeed, rising interest rates could encourage Europeans to save more, as confirmed by our 2024 Observatoire Cetelem Barometer.

But we can be sure that the situation will have improved by the time the next Observatoire Cetelem Barometer is published… provided, of course, that this resolutely optimistic prediction is not derailed by another major crisis.