In the third quarter of 2024, half of Norwegian companies had problems with increasing purchase prices as a result of rising inflation seen around the world. Moreover, more than 40 percent faced problems due to an unstable economic framework. On the other hand, only 10 percent had issues with lack of credits or financing. As a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the Russian War in Ukraine that started in February 2022, inflation has been surging worldwide. For more information about inflation in the Nordic countries, please visit our dedicated topic page.

In case prices for goods and services go up significantly in 2023, over ** percent of consumers around the world said they would shop less in general and cut down on spending as a response. A fifth of survey respondents said they would look for and purchase cheaper and better value products. Less than **** percent of those surveyed worldwide believed inflation would be unlikely to impact their habits. What does inflation look like? The world entered a new inflation crisis in 2021, driven by a confluence of factors including the COVID-19 pandemic which restricted global supply chains, and the Russian-Ukraine war which exacerbated food and energy shortages. In 2022, global inflation hit **** percent, the highest annual increase in decades. The rate of inflation is estimated to remain high in the near future, at around *** percent in 2023 and *** percent in 2024. Inflation dominated the list of most important problems facing the world according to a survey conducted in October 2023 – leading ahead of poverty and social inequality, crime and violence, and unemployment. In a global consumer trends survey, the majority of respondents said that inflation impacted them completely or a lot – for instance, ***** in ** respondents in the United States admitted they had been seriously impacted. Inflation’s impact on the holidays The end-of-year holiday season is typically regarded as a period of increased retail spending, driven by a series of major shopping events such as Black Friday and Cyber Monday, as well as the public holidays Thanksgiving and Christmas. However, inflation has put a damper on the holiday cheer, with consumers expressing their intentions to cut back spending amid the cost-of-living crisis. In 2022, a significant share of consumers in Europe said they planned to cut at least some related expenses. In fact, ** percent of respondents in the United Kingdom planned to cut all expenses related to Black Friday and Christmas.

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.

A survey conducted by Rakuten Insight in March 2023 found that about ** percent of respondents in China reported that rising prices of personal care and health products had the most significant impact on them. In addition, ** percent of respondents stated that inflation in apparel and shoes was the most challenging to deal with.

A survey conducted by Rakuten Insight in March 2023 found that 82 percent of respondents in Taiwan reported that rising inflation affected their ability to pay for basic necessities such as food, clothing, and healthcare. Meanwhile, 46 percent of respondents mentioned that they were unable to save due to inflation.

A survey from June 2022 found that inflation already inspired one in five U.S. consumers to cancel at least one streaming service subscription. A further ** percent stated that they will have to drop streaming services if inflation continues at the current rate. Only ** percent of people interviewed said that inflation has no impact on their streaming behavior.

In the United States, almost *** in **** online shoppers profited from Amazon Prime Day deals to stock up on items that got more expensive because of inflation in 2022. According to a poll, over ********* of the surveyed U.S. consumers even waited for Amazon Prime in order to purchase a product at a lower price. Overall, the inflation rate had no effect on a limited share of consumers – less than ** percent.

A survey conducted by Rakuten Insight in March 2023 found that about ** percent of respondents in Singapore reported that rising prices of groceries had the most significant impact on them. In addition, ** percent of respondents stated that inflation in utility costs was the most challenging to deal with.

Low income Mexican households were the most affected by inflation. According to the source, the annual inflation rate of the representative consumer basket of households with low income experienced the largest increase in February 2024: **** percent compared to the same month of the previous year. By contrast, the market basket of high income households (those that earn, on average, a monthly income of ****** Mexican pesos) registered an inflation rate of **** percent.

Over two-thirds of American households with children entering K-12 in the fall of 2024 were expecting rising prices to impact them more this year compared to last year. In contrast, just two percent of respondents surveyed said they expected inflation to impact their back-to-school shopping less this time around.

According to a 2023 survey by Rakuten Insight on inflation in Indonesia, approximately ** percent of respondents shared that they had to be cautious of their expenses. Meanwhile, around ** percent of survey participants indicated that they were not impacted at all by inflation.

According to a 2023 survey by Rakuten Insight on inflation in Thailand, over half of the female and male respondents indicated that they had to be cautious with their expenses. Around **** percent of the female and ** percent of male survey participants said they were not impacted at all by inflation.

According to a 2023 survey by Rakuten Insight on inflation in Thailand, over half of the respondents indicated that they need to be cautious with their expenses. Almost *** percent of the survey participant said they were unable to cope with inflation.

According to a survey conducted by Rakuten Insight in March 2023 in China, about ** percent of respondents aged 55 years and above stated that rising inflation affected their ability to pay for basic necessities such as food, clothing, and healthcare. Meanwhile, ** percent of respondents in the same age group reported that they were unable to save due to inflation.

According to a survey by Rakuten Insight conducted in March 2023 on inflation in South Korea, over half of the respondents indicated that they needed to be cautious with their expenses. Over **** percent of the survey participant said they were unable to cope with inflation while only around *** percent felt not impacted by it at all.

According to a recent survey conducted in Vietnam, as of January 2023, over ** percent of respondents reported that inflation had a negative impact on them to some degree. In contrast, around **** percent of respondents said inflation did not have a negative effect on them.

In 2021, it was estimated that the food and grocery market in the United Kingdom (UK) grew by around four percent due to inflation. This figure was forecast to gradually decrease to *** percent by 2025.

In a survey conducted by Rakuten Insight in March 2023 in Taiwan, about ** percent of respondents reported that rising prices of groceries had the most significant impact on them. In addition, the respondents in older age groups tended to state that inflation in utility costs was challenging to deal with.

In a January 2025 survey on domestic travel in the United Kingdom, 23 percent of respondents planned to book cheaper accommodation services in the next six months due to the cost of living crisis. Looking for more free activities and spending less on eating out were other popular strategies planned by domestic travelers to save money.

According to a 2023 survey by Rakuten Insight on inflation in the Philippines, the majority of respondents indicated that their ability to pay for basic necessities such as food, clothing, healthcare was affected by inflation. Meanwhile, around ** percent of survey participants said they were unable to save due to inflation.