Inflation Calculator

It uses the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for the selected country: the ratio between the CPI at the target year and the CPI at the starting year tells you how much a given amount is worth at the other point in time. The calculator works in both directions — projecting a past amount forward, or discounting a future or present amount back to see what it would have been worth earlier.

The Consumer Price Index tracks the average price of a representative basket of goods and services bought by households over time. Its year-over-year change is the most common way to measure inflation, because it reflects what everyday cost of living actually looks like, rather than a single price like energy or housing alone.

Each country's CPI basket, weighting, and monetary policy differ, so the same global shock — an energy price spike, for example — passes through to consumer prices differently depending on local energy mix, taxes, wage dynamics, and currency movements. That's why this calculator lets you pick a country rather than applying one rate everywhere.

Coverage varies by country, but for most of them the underlying OECD CPI series goes back several decades, in some cases to the 1950s or 1960s. Earlier years are shown where available; if a year isn't in the dropdown, the series doesn't cover it for that country.

Not exactly. CPI is a national average across a fixed basket, so it won't match your personal experience if your spending mix differs from that basket — for example if housing, healthcare, or a specific good you buy a lot of has moved faster or slower than the overall index.