British Pound Sterling Inflation 1750-2023

This dataset provides composite consumer price index figures covering the period from 1750-2023. It is primarily intended to provide the backend for a simple inflation calculator program, and for making historical comparisons.

Series information:

• Year: The year.
• Composite index: This is a composite consumer price index built from previous indexes to provide coverage over a longer time period.
• Annual difference: The difference between this row’s composite index value and that of the preceding year.
• Percentage difference: The annual difference expressed as a percentage.
• Cumulative change since 1750: The cumulative difference in inflation since 1750.
• Difference from today: The difference in index value between the given year and 2023.

Guide

You can use the dataset to answer the following types of questions, in the following ways:

What is the equivalent sum of money in year X (2003) prices of £50 in year Y (1850)?

This can be determined by how much prices have risen over the relevant period.
It can be calculated by:
Amount to be revalued multiplied by later year’s index divided by earlier year’s index.
For the above example, £50 x 715.2/8.4 = £4,257

What was the purchasing power of the pound in year X (1995), compared to 1965?

100 times earlier year’s index/later year’s index.
100 x 58.4/588.2 = 9.9p
This can be reversed by inverting the numerator and denominator in the above equation, to give the earlier year’s value in the latter year.