Tools · Nine countries
Inflation and purchasing power calculator
Choose a country, enter an amount and compare two months. See the amount needed to preserve its purchasing power and what happens if the nominal amount stays unchanged.
Checking available months…
Comparing your pay? Try the salary inflation calculator.
What you are comparing
The tool compares price levels in two months, not two specific days. The starting month is the reference: choosing January measures the change after January's price level, without adding January's inflation again. Choosing the same starting and ending month produces no change.
The ending month is limited to the country's latest available observation. The tool does not extend the series to today or estimate missing months. The export date identifies the file version, not the period of the latest CPI.
A purchasing-power loss is not money removed from your account: the same amount buys less of the basket represented by CPI. If prices declined over the period, the result can instead show a purchasing-power gain.
How it is calculated
Let F be the price-change factor and M the entered amount. With comparable indices, F = ending CPI / starting CPI. For Argentina, where the file provides national CPI monthly rates, F is the product of (1 + monthly rate / 100) from the month after the starting reference through the ending month.
- Cumulative inflation: (F − 1) × 100.
- Equivalent ending amount: M × F.
- Remaining purchasing power at starting prices: M / F.
- Purchasing-power loss: (1 − 1 / F) × 100. A negative value represents a gain.
Monthly percentages are not added together. Calculation retains the available precision and rounds results for display. For Argentina, compounding rounded published rates is an approximation and can differ from the official year-on-year change.
Methodological reference on using index ratios: BLS — Purchasing power and constant dollars.
Sources and limitations
Our own system organizes the information supplied by statistical agencies. Argentina uses INDEC's national CPI via ArgentinaDatos; the GBA series is excluded. The other countries use CPI indices from CEPALSTAT, indicator 365. The result identifies the selected series' agency and coverage.
CEPALSTAT · INDEC · ArgentinaDatos
CPI represents a particular basket and coverage; it does not measure your exact cost of living. Index levels are not compared directly between countries. In El Salvador, amounts are denominated in dollars, but the indicator measures its local basket, not US CPI.
The nominal amount is assumed unchanged, without interest, investments, spending or taxes. No exchange rates are calculated. For Venezuela, use the same monetary denomination in both periods: this tool does not perform conversions for bolívar redenominations.
Calculation takes place on the server. Your browser receives results and coverage information, not the complete historical file. We do not store the amount you enter or create a history of your calculations; the hosting provider may retain technical access logs.
Learn what inflation is and how CPI is measured.
Educational and informational content. Not personalized financial advice. Historical data does not predict future inflation.