In economics, the inflation rate is a measure of the change in price of a basket of goods. The most common measure being the consumer price index. It is the percentage rate of change in price level over time, and also indicates the rate of decrease in the purchasing power of money. The annual rate of inflation for 2023, was 4.1 percent higher in the United States when compared to the previous year. More information on inflation and the consumer price index can be found on our dedicated topic page. Additionally, the monthly rate of inflation in the United States can be accessed here. Inflation and purchasing power Inflation is a key economic indicator, and gives economists and consumers alike a look at changes in prices in the wider economy. For example, if an average pair of socks costs 100 dollars one year and 105 dollars the following year, the inflation rate is five percent. This means the amount of goods an individual can purchase with a unit of currency has decreased. This concept is often referred to as purchasing power. The data presents the average rate of inflation in a year, whereas the monthly measure of inflation measures the change in prices compared with prices one year ago. For example, monthly inflation in the U.S. reached a peak in June 2022 at 9.1 percent. This means that prices were 9.1 percent higher than they were in June of 2021. The purchasing power is the extent to which a person has available funds to make purchases. The Big Mac Index has been published by The Economist since 1986 and exemplifies purchasing power on a global scale, allowing us to see note the differences between different countries currencies. Switzerland for example, has the most expensive Big Mac in the world, costing consumers 6.71 U.S. dollars as of July 2022, whereas a Big Mac cost 5.15 dollars in the United States, and 4.77 dollars in the Euro area. One of the most important tools in influencing the rate of inflation is interest rates. The Federal Reserve of the United States has the capacity to make changes to the federal interest rate . Changes to the rate of inflation are thought to be an imbalance between supply and demand. After COVID-19 related lockdowns came to an end there was a sudden increase in demand for goods and services with consumers having more funds than usual thanks to reduced spending during lockdown and government funded economic support. Additionally, supply-chain related bottlenecks also due to lockdowns around the world and the Russian invasion of Ukraine meant that there was a decrease in the supply of goods and services. By increasing the interest rate, the Federal Reserve aims to reduce spending, and thus bring demand back into balance with supply.

Inflation as measured by the consumer price index reflects the annual percentage change in the cost to the average consumer of acquiring a basket of goods and services that may be fixed or changed at specified intervals, such as yearly. The Laspeyres formula is generally used.

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.

Inflation Expectations in Dominican Republic decreased to 3.84 percent in February from 3.89 percent in January of 2025. This dataset provides - Dominican Republic Inflation Expectations- actual values, historical data, forecast, chart, statistics, economic calendar and news.

For 2024, economic experts predict a 2.2 percent inflation rate growth in Germany. Therefore, prices are expected to rise slower, one reason being that energy commodity prices have fallen significantly again. Nevertheless, the economic institutes do not expect the inflation rate to fall to two percent until 2026.

Inflation Rate in Lebanon decreased to 15.60 percent in February from 16.10 percent in January of 2025. This dataset provides the latest reported value for - Lebanon Inflation Rate - plus previous releases, historical high and low, short-term forecast and long-term prediction, economic calendar, survey consensus and news.

During the period beginning roughly in the mid-1980s until the Global Financial Crisis (2007-2008), the U.S. economy experienced a time of relative economic calm, with low inflation and consistent GDP growth. Compared with the turbulent economic era which had preceded it in the 1970s and the early 1980s, the lack of extreme fluctuations in the business cycle led some commentators to suggest that macroeconomic issues such as high inflation, long-term unemployment and financial crises were a thing of the past. Indeed, the President of the American Economic Association, Professor Robert Lucas, famously proclaimed in 2003 that "central problem of depression prevention has been solved, for all practical purposes". Ben Bernanke, the future chairman of the Federal Reserve during the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) and 2022 Nobel Prize in Economics recipient, coined the term 'the Great Moderation' to describe this era of newfound economic confidence. The era came to an abrupt end with the outbreak of the GFC in the Summer of 2007, as the U.S. financial system began to crash due to a downturn in the real estate market.

Causes of the Great Moderation, and its downfall

A number of factors have been cited as contributing to the Great Moderation including central bank monetary policies, the shift from manufacturing to services in the economy, improvements in information technology and management practices, as well as reduced energy prices. The period coincided with the term of Fed chairman Alan Greenspan (1987-2006), famous for the 'Greenspan put', a policy which meant that the Fed would proactively address downturns in the stock market using its monetary policy tools. These economic factors came to prominence at the same time as the end of the Cold War (1947-1991), with the U.S. attaining a new level of hegemony in global politics, as its main geopolitical rival, the Soviet Union, no longer existed. During the Great Moderation, the U.S. experienced a recession twice, between July 1990 and March 1991, and again from March 2001 tom November 2001, however, these relatively short recessions did not knock the U.S. off its growth path. The build up of household and corporate debt over the early 2000s eventually led to the Global Financial Crisis, as the bursting of the U.S. housing bubble in 2007 reverberated across the financial system, with a subsequent credit freeze and mass defaults.

Inflation in Zimbabwe rose to 10.61 percent in 2018, and is projected to jump dramatically to 577.21 percent in 2020. After that, estimates predict a slow decline for now - however, given Zimbabwe’s history of poor monetary policy, including one of the worst instances of hyperinflation, this seems unrealistic.

Inflation history

Inflation depends significantly on economic expectations of it, making it hard to reduce inflation once it has hit higher levels. This happened in Zimbabwe in the years approaching 2008, at the end of which a single U.S. dollar was worth over 2.6 trillion Zimbabwe dollars, up from 10,000 Zimbabwe dollars at the start of 2005. This all but destroyed Zimbabwe’s economy, leading to very low gross domestic product (GDP) per capita and a government struggling to finance itself.

The way ahead

In 2009, the Zimbabwean dollar had twelve zeros slashed from the banknotes. This was not enough, and after three decades of rule, former Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe was removed from power at the end of 2017. Citizens of the country are trying to hold foreign banknotes; they prefer U.S. dollars or euros, but the South African rand is more common. However, the rand’s performance against other currencies has been lackluster in recent years. This underscores the struggle that the Zimbabwean people have to find a stable currency at the moment.

Inflation as measured by the consumer price index reflects the annual percentage change in the cost to the average consumer of acquiring a basket of goods and services that may be fixed or changed at specified intervals, such as yearly. The Laspeyres formula is generally used.

Graph and download economic data for Inflation, consumer prices for the United States (FPCPITOTLZGUSA) from 1960 to 2023 about consumer, CPI, inflation, price index, indexes, price, and USA.

Inflation Rate in Morocco increased to 2.60 percent in February from 2 percent in January of 2025. This dataset provides - Morocco Inflation Rate - actual values, historical data, forecast, chart, statistics, economic calendar and news.

Graph and download economic data for Producer Price Index by Commodity: Warehousing, Storage, and Related Services (WPU3211) from Dec 2008 to Feb 2025 about warehousing, services, commodities, PPI, inflation, price index, indexes, price, and USA.

Graph and download economic data for Producer Price Index by Commodity: Professional Services (Partial): Financial Auditing (WPU452101) from Dec 2008 to Feb 2025 about professional, financial, services, commodities, PPI, inflation, price index, indexes, price, and USA.

Core consumer prices in Indonesia increased 2.48 percent in February of 2025 over the same month in the previous year. This dataset provides the latest reported value for - Indonesia Core Inflation Rate - plus previous releases, historical high and low, short-term forecast and long-term prediction, economic calendar, survey consensus and news.

The statistic shows the gross domestic product (GDP) in Canada from 1987 to 2023, with projections up until 2029. In 2023, the gross domestic product in Canada was around 2.14 trillion U.S. dollars.

The economy of Canada

Canada is the second biggest country in the world after Russia and the biggest country in North America. Despite its large size, Canada has a relatively small population of just around 35.9 million people. However, the total population in Canada is estimated to grow to around 37.5 million inhabitants in 2020. The standard of living in the country is pretty high, the life expectancy as of 2013 in Canada ranks as one of the highest in the world. In addition, the country ranks number eight on the Human Development Index (HDI) worldwide.

All key factors point to a stable and sustainable economy. Not only is Canada’s population increasing, but the economy has been slowly recovering after the global financial crisis in 2008. The unemployment rate in Canada in 2010 was at approximately 8 percent (263696). Today, the unemployment rate in Canada is estimated to be around 6.8 percent, and it is estimated to decrease further. During the financial crisis in 2008, Canada's inflation rate amounted to around 2.4 percent. By 2013, the inflation rate was at less than 1 percent in comparison to the previous year.

Canada is considered to be one of the world’s wealthiest countries. By value of private financial wealth, Canada ranked seventh along with Italy. In addition, its gross domestic product per capita in 2014 was among the largest in the world and during the same year, its gross domestic product increased by over 2.5 percent in comparison to the previous year. Canada’s economic growth has been a result of its political stability and economic reforms following the global financial crisis. In the period between 2009 and 2010, Canada was among the leading countries with the highest political stability in the world.

According to a survey from 2018, most Italian respondents perceived the financial crisis from 2008 as a menace. A decade after the global financial crisis hit Italy in 2008, this topic was still object of discussions. Over 80 percent of interviewees declared that the international financial crisis was either as bad as it appeared to be or even worse. Consequences of the 2008 crisis can be seen in macro-economic aspects such as the unemployment and the inflation.

Unemployment    After 2008, the unemployment rate in Italy increased steadily. The highest figure was recorded in 2014, when the unemployment rate peaked at 12.7 percent. Afterwards, the rate started declining. In 2019, the unemployment rate registered its lowest figure since 2008. The financial crisis mostly affected the young population, reaching in 2014 the highest unemployment rate of the last years. That year, over 42 percent of the young population was unemployed.

Inflation rate 

Similarly, the inflation rate showed its largest figure in 2008. Compared to 2007, the inflation rate in Italy in 2008 increased by 3.3 percent. Inflation rate in mostly measured by analyzing the movement of the Consumer Price Index. The CPI is a measure that examines the changes in the purchasing-power of a currency. It measures changes in the price level of market basket of consumer goods and services purchased by households.

In 2024, the annual inflation rate for the United Kingdom is expected to be 2.5 percent, following an annual rate of 7.3 percent in 2023, and 9.1 percent in 2022. Before 2022, the inflation rate was at its highest in 2011 when it reached 4.5 percent, and was lowest in 2015 when an annual inflation rate of zero percent was recorded. Inflation has been surging in the UK since late 2021, and reached a 41-year-high of 11.1 percent in October 2022. Since that recent peak, inflation has gradually subsided, and was four percent in January 2024. Inflation down but not out in 2024 Although there are some positive signals regarding UK inflation decelerating throughout 2023, prices are still rising at quite a fast rate, especially in certain sectors. Food inflation, for example, only fell below double-figures in November 2023, and was still rising by 6.9 percent in January 2024. As of that month, however, alcohol and tobacco prices were rising faster than any other sector, with an inflation rate of 12.4 percent. Additionally, underlying core inflation, which measures prices rises without food and energy, is slightly above the headline inflation rate, and was 5.1 percent as of the most recent month. With some aspects of inflation seemingly becoming embedded in the UK economy, this will likely prolong the current Cost of Living Crisis engulfing UK households. Inflation crisis across in the world in 2022 The UK has not been alone in suffering from runaway inflation over the last few years. From late 2021 onwards, various factors converged to encourage a global acceleration of prices, leading to the ongoing inflation crisis. Blocked-up supply chains were one of the main factors as the world emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic. This was followed by energy and food inflation skyrocketing after Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Central bank interest rates were raised globally in response to the problem, possibly putting an end to the era of cheap money that has defined monetary policy since the financial crash of 2008.

Graph and download economic data for Producer Price Index by Commodity for Educational Services: Computer Training School Services (WPU52110101) from Dec 2008 to Aug 2017 about schools, computers, education, services, commodities, PPI, inflation, price index, indexes, price, and USA.

Graph and download economic data for Producer Price Index by Commodity: Data Processing and Related Services: Business Process Management Services (Partial) (WPU38110201) from Dec 2008 to Feb 2025 about information technology, management, processed, business, services, commodities, PPI, inflation, price index, indexes, price, and USA.

Cost of food in Jamaica increased 6.57 percent in February of 2025 over the same month in the previous year. This dataset provides - Jamaica Food Inflation- actual values, historical data, forecast, chart, statistics, economic calendar and news.