The rising inflation worldwide in 2022 and 2023 is reflected in the increasing prices of the different commodity groups in the G7 countries. Most notably, the price of electricity, gas, and other fuels was high in the third quarter of 2024 in Japan, with price increases reaching ** percent compared to the same period in 2023. On the other hand, gas and electricity inflation was negative in Germany, Italy, and the UK following extremely high rates in 2022 and the first half of 2023. Inflation rates increased sharply all around the world through 2022 and the beginning of 2023, spurred by Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February that year. Economic challenges in Japan As food and restaurant costs have risen in Japan in comparison to the rest of the G7 nations, overall, Japan is facing a period of economic slowdown. Over time, the value of the Japanese yen has dropped. Moreover, the Japanese GDP has also dropped, going from around **** trillion U.S. dollars in 2021 to *** trillion U.S. dollars by 2024. However, it is predicted to begin increasing by 2025. Falling electricity costs Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the energy crisis driven by the February 2022 invasion of Russia into Ukraine, electricity prices increased worldwide through 2021, 2022, and 2023. As of 2024, inflation of electricity costs is decreasing across the G7, more than other commodity groups. This rise and fall can be seen throughout Europe as well as within the United States, after peaking in 2022.

Inflation rates rose all around the world in 2022 and remained high in 2023, so also in the G7 countries except *****. However, inflation rates were forecast to ********* the next years. Inflation rates ********* sharply all around the world through 2022, spurred by Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February that year. Especially gas and electricity were hit by price increases following the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war.

Inflation rates rose all around the world in 2022, so also in the G7 countries, where inflation rates varied from 2.5 percent in Japan to over 8 percent in Italy. Inflation rates increased sharply all around the world through 2022, spurred by Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February that year. Especially gas and electricity were hit by price increases following the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war. Inflation rates were falling in all G7 economies in 2024.

This dataset provides values for CORE INFLATION RATE reported in several countries. The data includes current values, previous releases, historical highs and record lows, release frequency, reported unit and currency.

Of the major developed and emerging economies, China had the lowest inflation rate at *** percent in June 2025. On the other end of the spectrum, the inflation rate in Russia stood at nearly ** percent. The country's inflation rate increased sharply after the country's President, Vladimir Putin, decided to invade Ukraine, declined somewhat in 2023, before increasing slowly again since. The rate of inflation reflects changes in the cost of a specified basket containing a representative selection of goods and services. It is derived from the consumer price index (CPI).

Graph and download economic data for Consumer Price Index: All items: Total: Total for G7 (G7CPALTT01GPM) from Feb 1970 to Feb 2024 about G7, all items, CPI, price index, indexes, and price.

The combined gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate in the G7 countries is expected to slow in 2023 amid rising inflation rates around the world. That year, it was forecast to grow by around *** percent, before increasing over the next years. GDP growth rates were even forecast to be slightly negative in Germany in 2023.

Inflation is generally defined as the continued increase in the average prices of goods and services in a given region. Following the extremely high global inflation experienced in the 1980s and 1990s, global inflation has been relatively stable since the turn of the millennium, usually hovering between three and five percent per year. There was a sharp increase in 2008 due to the global financial crisis now known as the Great Recession, but inflation was fairly stable throughout the 2010s, before the current inflation crisis began in 2021. Recent years Despite the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic, the global inflation rate fell to 3.26 percent in the pandemic's first year, before rising to 4.66 percent in 2021. This increase came as the impact of supply chain delays began to take more of an effect on consumer prices, before the Russia-Ukraine war exacerbated this further. A series of compounding issues such as rising energy and food prices, fiscal instability in the wake of the pandemic, and consumer insecurity have created a new global recession, and global inflation in 2024 is estimated to have reached 5.76 percent. This is the highest annual increase in inflation since 1996. Venezuela Venezuela is the country with the highest individual inflation rate in the world, forecast at around 200 percent in 2022. While this is figure is over 100 times larger than the global average in most years, it actually marks a decrease in Venezuela's inflation rate, which had peaked at over 65,000 percent in 2018. Between 2016 and 2021, Venezuela experienced hyperinflation due to the government's excessive spending and printing of money in an attempt to curve its already-high inflation rate, and the wave of migrants that left the country resulted in one of the largest refugee crises in recent years. In addition to its economic problems, political instability and foreign sanctions pose further long-term problems for Venezuela. While hyperinflation may be coming to an end, it remains to be seen how much of an impact this will have on the economy, how living standards will change, and how many refugees may return in the coming years.

This data package includes the underlying data to replicate the charts, tables, and calculations presented in The trinity of COVID era inflation in G7 economies, PIIE Working Paper 24-21.

If you use the data, please cite as:

Gagnon, Joseph E., and Asher Rose. 2024. The trinity of COVID era inflation in G7 economies. PIIE Working Paper 24-21. Washington: Peterson Institute for International Economics.

The gross domestic product (GDP) of all G7 countries decreased sharply in 2009 and 2020 due to the financial crisis and COVID-19 pandemic, respectively. The growth decline was heavier after the COVID-19 pandemic than the financial crisis. Moreover, Italy had a negative GDP growth rate in 2012 and 2013 following the euro crisis. In 2023, Germany experienced an economic recession.

In June 2025, global inflation rates and central bank interest rates showed significant variation across major economies. Most economies initiated interest rate cuts from mid-2024 due to declining inflationary pressures. The U.S., UK, and EU central banks followed a consistent pattern of regular rate reductions throughout late 2024. In the first half of 2025, Russia maintained the highest interest rate at 20 percent, while Japan retained the lowest at 0.5 percent. Varied inflation rates across major economies The inflation landscape varies considerably among major economies. China had the lowest inflation rate at 0.1 percent in June 2025. In contrast, Russia maintained a high inflation rate of 9.4 percent. These figures align with broader trends observed in early 2025, where China had the lowest inflation rate among major developed and emerging economies, while Russia's rate remained the highest. Central bank responses and economic indicators Central banks globally implemented aggressive rate hikes throughout 2022-23 to combat inflation. The European Central Bank exemplified this trend, raising rates from 0 percent in January 2022 to 4.5 percent by September 2023. A coordinated shift among major central banks began in mid-2024, with the ECB, Bank of England, and Federal Reserve initiating rate cuts, with forecasts suggesting further cuts through 2025 and 2026.

In 2024, Japan had an average inflation rate estimated at 2.74 percent, marking the highest rate of inflation in Japan in almost a decade. However, this figure was still very low compared to most other major economies, such as Japan's fellow G7 members, four of which had inflation rates around six or seven percent in 2023 due to the global inflation crisis. Why is Japan's inflation rate lower? There are a number of contributing factors to Japan's relatively low inflation rate, even during economic crises. Japan eased its Covid restrictions more slowly than most other major economies, this prevented post-pandemic consumer spending that may have driven inflation through supply chain issues caused by higher demand. As the majority of Japan's food and energy comes from overseas, and has done so for decades, the government has mechanisms in place to prevent energy and wheat prices from rising too quickly. Because of this, Japan was able to shield its private sector from many of the negative knock on effects from Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which had a significant impact on both sectors globally. Persistent deflation and national debt An additional factor that has eased the impact of inflation on Japan's economy is the fact that it experienced deflation before the pandemic. Deflation has been a persistent problem in Japan since the asset price bubble burst in 1992, and has been symptomatic of Japan's staggering national debt thereafter. For almost 30 years, a combination of quantitative easing, low interest rates (below 0.5 percent since 1995, and at -0.1% since 2016), and a lack of spending due to low wages and an aging population have combined to give Japan the highest national debt in the world in absolute terms, and second-highest debt in relation to its GDP, after Venezuela. Despite this soaring debt, Japan remains the fourth-largest economy in the world, behind the U.S., China, and Germany.

The imports volume of all G7 countries was negative in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with the United Kingdom seeing the most dramatic decrease at minus ** percent compared to 2019. However, import volumes were positive again in all countries in 2021, but decreased in some countries in 2023 and 2024 amid high inflation rates.

The exports volume of all G7 countries was negative in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with France seeing the most dramatic decrease at minus ** percent compared to 2019. However, export volumes were positive again in all countries in 2021, but slowed in 2023 and 2024 amid high inflation rates.

The United States has had the highest economic growth in the G7 since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, with its economy *** percent larger in the first quarter of 2023, when compared with the fourth quarter of 2019. By contrast, the United Kingdom and Germany have both seen their economies shrink by *** percent in the same time period.

Portugal, Canada, and the United States were the countries with the highest house price to income ratio in 2024. In all three countries, the index exceeded 130 index points, while the average for all OECD countries stood at 116.2 index points. The index measures the development of housing affordability and is calculated by dividing nominal house price by nominal disposable income per head, with 2015 set as a base year when the index amounted to 100. An index value of 120, for example, would mean that house price growth has outpaced income growth by 20 percent since 2015. How have house prices worldwide changed since the COVID-19 pandemic? House prices started to rise gradually after the global financial crisis (2007–2008), but this trend accelerated with the pandemic. The countries with advanced economies, which usually have mature housing markets, experienced stronger growth than countries with emerging economies. Real house price growth (accounting for inflation) peaked in 2022 and has since lost some of the gain. Although, many countries experienced a decline in house prices, the global house price index shows that property prices in 2023 were still substantially higher than before COVID-19. Renting vs. buying In the past, house prices have grown faster than rents. However, the home affordability has been declining notably, with a direct impact on rental prices. As people struggle to buy a property of their own, they often turn to rental accommodation. This has resulted in a growing demand for rental apartments and soaring rental prices.

Mortgage interest rates worldwide varied greatly in June 2025, from less than ******percent in many European countries to as high as ***percent in Turkey. The average mortgage rate in a country depends on the central bank's base lending rate and macroeconomic indicators such as inflation and forecast economic growth. Since 2022, inflationary pressures have led to rapid increases in mortgage interest rates. Which are the leading mortgage markets? An easy way to estimate the importance of the mortgage sector in each country is by comparing household debt depth, or the ratio of the debt held by households compared to the county's GDP. In 2024, Switzerland, Australia, and Canada had some of the highest household debt to GDP ratios worldwide. While this indicator shows the size of the sector relative to the country’s economy, the value of mortgages outstanding allows to compare the market size in different countries. In Europe, for instance, the United Kingdom, Germany, and France were the largest mortgage markets by outstanding mortgage lending. Mortgage lending trends in the U.S. In the United States, new mortgage lending soared in 2021. This was largely due to the growth of new refinance loans that allow homeowners to renegotiate their mortgage terms and replace their existing loan with a more favorable one. Following the rise in interest rates, the mortgage market cooled, and refinance loans declined.

The statistic shows the unemployment rate in the United Kingdom from 1999 to 2024. The UK's unemployment rate decreased to 4.11 percent in 2024. Unemployment and the economy of the United Kingdom The global financial crisis of 2008 left many nations with high inflation and increasing unemployment rates. The United Kingdom, however, has attempted and successfully lowered the unemployment rate since 2009. The UK is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, the Council of Europe, the G7, the G8, the G20, NATO, and World Trade Organization. It is therefore one of the biggest and most important economic powers in the world. It consists of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and in 2014, the UK population amounted to over 64 million people. The same year, it reported the sixth largest gross domestic product in the world, reaching more than 2.8 billion U.S. dollars - and with a prospering economy, its GDP is on the upswing: It is estimated that the GDP in the United Kingdom will grow by approximately 3 percent in 2015 in comparison to the previous year. Regarding unemployment, the UK has never been "typically European". Europe's unemployment rate has been relatively high in comparison to other world regions; the unemployment rate in developed countries and the European Union in 2014 was around 7.8 percent. Meanwhile, the global unemployment rate in 2014 was an estimated 5.9 percent. Despite reporting the third highest unemployment rate in major industrial and emerging countries, behind France and India, the unemployment rate in the United Kingdom is much lower than the European Union rate.