What does this tool do
The Inflation Calculator estimates the purchasing power of money over time using real inflation rates. Select a country from 190+ options, enter an amount and a year range, and see the equivalent value today (or in the target year). Powered by World Bank CPI data, pre-fetched at build time. Shows yearly breakdown and flags years with missing data.
How to use it
- Select country — Choose from the list (190+ countries).
- Enter amount — The sum of money in the start year.
- Set year range — Start year and end year. Available years depend on data.
- View results — Adjusted amount, total inflation %, and yearly breakdown.
- Check warnings — Years with missing CPI data use 0% and are listed.
How it works
Uses World Bank CPI annual percentage rate (indicator FP.CPI.TOTL.ZG) as the sole data source. Data is bundled at build time, so no runtime API calls. For each year, the cumulative price index is applied: equivalent = initial × cumulativeIndex. Missing years are assumed 0% inflation and listed in a visible warning. The purchasing power ratio shows how much 1 unit of start-year currency is worth in end-year terms.
All calculations run entirely in your browser. No data is sent to any server.
Use cases & examples
- Historical values — What would $100 in 1990 be worth today?
- Salaries — Compare wages across decades.
- Savings — See how inflation erodes purchasing power.
- Planning — Estimate future costs with past inflation.
- Education — Teach inflation with real country data.
Example
- $1,000 in 2000 (US) to 2024 → Adjusted amount depends on cumulative CPI.
- Years 2008–2010 missing for some countries → Warning shown; 0% used for those years.
Limitations & known constraints
- World Bank data — Accuracy depends on World Bank CPI; not all years available for all countries.
- Missing years — Assumed 0% inflation; may underestimate or overestimate.
- Build-time data — Data is fixed at build; update requires redeploy.
- CPI only — Does not model asset-specific inflation (e.g. housing).