Average annual change in private consumption in Europe in select periods 1980-1990
Although consumerism did rise gradually in the second half of the century, the differences between either half of the 1980s were largely due to the recessions and economic instability caused by the oil shocks of the Middle East. By the second half of the 1980s, oil prices had recovered (from 36 U.S. dollars per barrel in 1981 to 11 dollars in 1986), and consumer price inflation dropped from approximately 10 to 14 percent in the early eighties to between three and five percent in later years.