Grocery prices in Germany, and why the supermarket is the easy part

Eurostat compares price levels across Europe with the EU average at 100. Germany in 2025:

• Overall price level — 109.1, fourth of the ten European countries this site covers.
• Food and non-alcoholic beverages — 102.4, sixth of the ten and close to the EU average.

Food comes in almost seven points below Germany's overall level. As in the Netherlands, Austria and Belgium, the higher costs of German life sit mainly in services — Eurostat's services index for Germany is 113.7 — rather than in the weekly shop.

The trend is modestly in the right direction too: German food prices moved from 103.4 in 2024 to 102.4 in 2025 relative to the EU average.

Source: Eurostat — Purchasing power parities and price level indices (prc_ppp_ind_1), 2024 and 2025 values, dataset updated 9 July 2026, read 7 October 2026.

Eurostat's food categories for Germany, against the EU average of 100:

• Alcohol — 85.9, among the cheapest of the ten countries we cover
• Sugar and sweets — 93.5
• Dairy and eggs — 96.1
• Bread and cereals 101.8, soft drinks 100.8 — around the average

And the categories above it:

• Fish and seafood — 117.0, second-dearest of the ten
• Meat — 114.5
• Fruit 107.7, oils and fats 106.7, vegetables 103.1

Germany is also where drinks come with a deposit on the bottle or can — our Pfand guide explains how it works and how to get it back.

A price level index compares the same basket across countries, including taxes. It isn't what households spend, and rent sits outside it — for that, see our guide to the Berlin rent index.

The German figures support a fairly simple planning assumption: groceries at roughly EU-average prices, with dairy, bread and drinks good value and fish and meat the categories to watch. The bigger variables in a German budget are rent and services.

International health cover doesn't scale with German prices — it is priced on your age and the cover you choose.