Long-term inflation expectations of consumers: an overview

This box explores the newly available five-year-ahead inflation expectations collected in the ECB Consumer Expectations Survey (CES). While consumers’ beliefs about longer-term inflation expectations are characterised by substantial heterogeneity and dispersion, the median five-year-ahead expectations have been close to the ECB's 2% inflation target since September 2024. This relative stability contrasts with more variable one-year and three-year expectations, which have been more sensitive to actual changes in inflation. More recent CES data also suggest an increasing concentration of five-year expectations consistent with the ECB’s target, indicating stronger consumer confidence in the ECB’s ability to maintain price stability, as realised inflation has returned to values closer to 2%. Taken together, our analysis supports the value of longer-term expectations for evaluating the anchoring of consumer inflation expectations.