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

In 2023, no Latin American or Caribbean country registered deflation in their average consumer prices. Costa Rica had the lowest change compared to the previous year with 0.52 percent. In contrast, the average inflation rate in Venezuela amounted to about 337.46 percent.

Latin America among the highest inflation rates in the world In 2023, the average inflation rate of the region was around 14.41 percent. Which is significantly higher than the global average of 6.78 percent. Some of that is explained by countries such as Venezuela, Argentina, and Suriname ranking in the top then of countries with the highest inflation rate in the world.

Chronic inflation in Latin America Chronic inflation is often defined as persistent high inflation throughout a long time. Some of the common examples of this problem are Venezuela and Argentina, both countries had episodes of hyperinflation, with price increases considerably over 50 percent per month in both cases. The last few years, the global crisis and economic sanctions, attenuated the situation with Argentina reaching once again three-digit inflation and Venezuela exceeding 63,000 percent inflation in 2019.

The average for 2025 based on 20 countries was 18.78 percent. The highest value was in Venezuela: 254.35 percent and the lowest value was in Panama: 0.7 percent. The indicator is available from 1980 to 2030. Below is a chart for all countries where data are available.

In December 2024, the country with the highest food price inflation compared to the same month of the previous year in Latin America and the Caribbean was Argentina, with an inflation rate of ***** percent. Ranking second was Haiti, with ***** percent. In contrast, Suriname was the only country in the region where the inflation rate decreased by **** percent.

This dataset is about countries per year in South America. It has 12 rows and is filtered where the date is 2023. It features 3 columns: country, and inflation.

This statistic shows the average inflation rate in Latin America and the Caribbean from 2020 to 2024, with projections up until 2030. In 2024, the average inflation rate in Latin America and the Caribbean amounted to about 16.56 percent compared to the previous year.

This bar chart displays inflation (annual %) by country using the aggregation median in South America. The data is filtered where the date is 2023. The data is about countries per year.

As of 2024, Nicaragua registered the highest inflation rate in Central America with 4.64 percent, followed by Honduras and Belize. In contrast, Costa Rica registered the deflation of 0.41 percent. This indicator measures inflation based upon the year on year change in the average consumer price index. The latter expresses a country's average level of prices based on a typical basket of consumer goods and services. The values shown here refer to the year-on-year change in this index measure, expressed in percent.

This scatter chart displays male population (people) against inflation (annual %) in South America. The data is about countries.

Food price inflation in Latin America and the Caribbean reached 77.62 percent in December 2024 compared to the same month the previous year. The surge in food prices has significant implications for household budgets and food security throughout Latin America. Regional variations and contributing factors While the overall trend shows a sharp increase in food prices, there are notable differences among countries in the region. Venezuela and Argentina consistently rank among the nations with the highest food price inflation, while Panama and Ecuador have experienced relatively lower rates. The consumer price index for food in Latin America and the Caribbean jumped from 425.38 points in June 2023 to 1,223.53 points in June 2024, representing an increase of over 158 percent. This rapid escalation in food costs has put considerable strain on consumers across the region. Global context and consumer impact The food price inflation crisis in Latin America is part of a broader global trend. Zimbabwe, for instance, recorded the highest level of real food inflation worldwide between December 2023 and April 2024, with a 46 percent increase compared to the previous year. Argentina followed with a 20 percent increase. The impact on consumers is significant, with many finding it increasingly difficult to afford healthy and sustainable food options. In Argentina, 62 percent of respondents reported difficulty in purchasing such foods due to a lack of affordability, an increase of 7 percentage points from 2021. Similar challenges were observed in other Latin American countries, including Peru, where the share of respondents reporting difficulties rose from 19 percent to 25 percent between 2021 and 2023.

The inflation rate for both Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America and the Caribbean reached more than 12 percent in 2023. Among the provided continents or regions, Asia and the Pacific had the lowest inflation rate that year. Consumer prices increased around the world following the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Inflation and food security Increases in food costs are one of the most prominent impacts of inflation globally. In the United Kingdom, for example, consumers have indicated that they have worried more about food costs in 2023 than in previous years. Meanwhile, in Canada, only a small fraction of survey respondents have said that inflation has had little impact on household food costs. Consumers have responded to rising food costs through various coping mechanisms. For example, Italian consumers have indicated that they purchase less unnecessary products, cut down on waste, and buy more discounted items in order to save costs. Changing consumer behvaiors Outside of food consumption, consumers have changed their purchasing behaviors with other types of goods and services. Surveying has indicated that nearly 60 percent of consumers have adjusted their shopping habits due to inflation. When holiday shopping in 2023, over 50 percent of Americans and over one third of British consumers said inflation had considerable impact on their holiday shopping. By generation, the Millenial generation has suffered the most due to rising inflation, while older generations have experienced less serious impacts.

This scatter chart displays forest area (km²) against inflation (annual %) in South America. The data is about countries.

Of the major developed and emerging economies, China had the lowest inflation rate at *** percent in December 2024. 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).

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 dataset is about countries in South America. It has 12 rows. It features 3 columns: land area, and inflation.

This scatter chart displays inflation (annual %) against land area (km²) in South America. The data is about countries.

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

Argentina had the highest annual inflation rate of G20 member countries as of April 2024, reaching an annual average of *** percent. The Latin American country has struggled with high inflation over several years. Elsewhere, the inflation rate in Turkey reached almost ** percent, while it was lowest in China at *** percent.

This horizontal bar chart displays inflation (annual %) by political leader using the aggregation median in South America. The data is about countries.

We provide the data used for this research in both Excel (one file with one matrix per sheet, 'Allmatrices.xlsx'), and CSV (one file per matrix).

Patent applications (Patent_applications.csv) Patent applications from residents and no residents per million inhabitants. Data obtained from the World Development Indicators database (World Bank 2020). Normalization by the number of inhabitants was made by the authors.

High-tech exports (High-tech_exports.csv) The proportion of exports of high-level technology manufactures from total exports by technology intensity, obtained from the Trade Structure by Partner, Product or Service-Category database (Lall, 2000; UNCTAD, 2019)

Expenditure on education (Expenditure_on_education.csv) Per capita government expenditure on education, total (2010 US$). The data was obtained from the government expenditure on education (total % of GDP), GDP (constant 2010 US$), and population indicators of the World Development Indicators database (World Bank 2020). Normalization by the number of inhabitants was made by the authors.

Scientific publications (Scientific_publications.csv) Scientific and technical journal articles per million inhabitants. The data were obtained from the scientific and technical journal articles and population indicators of the World Development Indicators database (World Bank 2020). Normalization by the number of inhabitants was made by the authors.

Expenditure on R&D (Expenditure_on_R&D.csv) Expenditure on research and development. Data obtained from the research and development expenditure (% of GDP), GDP (constant 2010 US$), and population indicators of the World Development Indicators database (World Bank 2020). Normalization by the number of inhabitants was made by the authors.

Two centuries of GDP (GDP_two_centuries.csv) GDP per capita that accounts for inflation. Data obtained from the Maddison Project Database, version 2018 (Inklaar et al. 2018), and available from the Open Numbers community (open-numbers.github.io).

Inklaar, R., de Jong, H., Bolt, J., & van Zanden, J. (2018). Rebasing “Maddison”: new income comparisons and the shape of long-run economic development (GD-174; GGDC Research Memorandum). https://www.rug.nl/research/portal/files/53088705/gd174.pdf

Lall, S. (2000). The Technological Structure and Performance of Developing Country Manufactured Exports, 1985‐98. Oxford Development Studies, 28(3), 337–369. https://doi.org/10.1080/713688318

Unctad. 2019. “Trade Structure by Partner, Product or Service-Category.” 2019. https://unctadstat.unctad.org/EN/.

World Bank. (2020). World Development Indicators. https://databank.worldbank.org/source/world-development-indicators