Euro area household saving rate dips to 14.2% as business profit share rises to 39%

Serguey Asael Shinder04 October 2026, 13:082 min read

Households in the euro area saved a slightly smaller share of their income in the second quarter of 2026, according to Eurostat's first release of quarterly sector accounts, published on 2 October.

Households. The gross household saving rate fell to 14.2%, from 14.4% in the first quarter. Eurostat attributes the change to consumption rising faster than gross disposable income, by 1.3% against 1.1% over the quarter. The household investment rate, which mainly reflects buying and renovating homes, slipped from 8.4% to 8.3%, as investment grew 0.5% against income growth of 1.1%.

Businesses. The profit share of non-financial corporations rose from 38.4% to 39.0%. Gross value added grew 2.0%, while compensation of employees plus taxes less subsidies on production grew 1.0%. The business investment rate rose from 22.5% to 22.7% of value added, with business investment up 2.9%.

Revisions. Compared with the release of 27 July, the first-quarter household saving rate was revised up from 14.3% to 14.4%, and the household investment rate down from 8.5% to 8.4%. For companies, the first-quarter profit share was revised down from 38.6% to 38.4% and the investment rate up from 22.2% to 22.5%.

How the figures are built. The data are seasonally adjusted and come from the European sector accounts that Eurostat compiles with the European Central Bank. The saving rate is gross saving divided by gross disposable income, adjusted for changes in households' pension entitlements, so it falls whenever spending grows faster than income. This first release comes about 94 days after the quarter; the final one, with real income and consumption per head for the euro area and the EU, is scheduled for 28 October.

What it means

The quarter's split is visible in the two headline ratios: households spent a little more of what came in, and companies kept a larger part of what they produced. Both moves are small and both previous-quarter figures were revised in the latest release, so the 28 October publication is the one that will fix the second-quarter picture.