£100 in 1956 is worth £2,372.85 in 2017

Value of £100 from 1956 to 2017

£100 in 1956 is equivalent in purchasing power to about £2,372.85 in 2017, an increase of £2,272.85 over 61 years. The pound had an average inflation rate of 5.33% per year between 1956 and 2017, producing a cumulative price increase of 2,272.85%.

This means that prices in 2017 are 23.73 times as high as average prices since 1956, according to the Office for National Statistics composite price index.

The inflation rate in 1956 was 5.10%. The inflation rate in 2017 was 3.58%. The 2017 inflation rate is lower compared to the average inflation rate of 4.03% per year between 2017 and 2024.


Inflation from 1956 to 2017
Cumulative price change2,272.85%
Average inflation rate5.33%
Converted amount
£100 base
£2,372.85
Price difference
£100 base
£2,272.85
CPI in 195645.300
CPI in 20171,074.900
Inflation in 19565.10%
Inflation in 20173.58%
£100 in 1956£2,372.85 in 2017

GBP inflation since 1956
Annual Rate, the Office for National Statistics CPI
Download

Buying power of £100 in 1956

This chart shows a calculation of buying power equivalence for £100 in 1956 (price index tracking began in 1750).

For example, if you started with £100, you would need to end with £2,372.85 in order to "adjust" for inflation (sometimes refered to as "beating inflation").

When £100 is equivalent to £2,372.85 over time, that means that the "real value" of a single U.K. pound decreases over time. In other words, a pound will pay for fewer items at the store.

This effect explains how inflation erodes the value of a pound over time. By calculating the value in 1956 dollars, the chart below shows how £100 is worth less over 61 years.

According to the Office for National Statistics, each of these GBP amounts below is equal in terms of what it could buy at the time:

Pound inflation: 1956-2017
YearPound ValueInflation Rate
1956£100.005.10%
1957£103.533.53%
1958£106.843.20%
1959£107.280.41%
1960£108.391.03%
1961£112.143.46%
1962£117.004.33%
1963£119.211.89%
1964£123.183.33%
1965£128.924.66%
1966£134.003.94%
1967£137.532.64%
1968£143.934.65%
1969£151.665.37%
1970£161.376.40%
1971£176.609.44%
1972£189.187.13%
1973£206.409.10%
1974£239.5116.04%
1975£297.5724.24%
1976£346.8016.54%
1977£401.7715.85%
1978£435.108.30%
1979£493.3813.39%
1980£582.1217.99%
1981£651.2111.87%
1982£707.288.61%
1983£739.744.59%
1984£776.604.98%
1985£823.846.08%
1986£851.883.40%
1987£887.424.17%
1988£930.914.90%
1989£1,003.317.78%
1990£1,098.239.46%
1991£1,162.695.87%
1992£1,206.183.74%
1993£1,225.391.59%
1994£1,254.972.41%
1995£1,298.453.47%
1996£1,329.802.41%
1997£1,371.523.14%
1998£1,418.543.43%
1999£1,440.401.54%
2000£1,483.002.96%
2001£1,509.271.77%
2002£1,534.441.67%
2003£1,578.812.89%
2004£1,625.832.98%
2005£1,671.742.82%
2006£1,725.173.20%
2007£1,799.124.29%
2008£1,870.863.99%
2009£1,860.93-0.53%
2010£1,946.804.61%
2011£2,048.125.20%
2012£2,113.913.21%
2013£2,178.153.04%
2014£2,229.582.36%
2015£2,251.660.99%
2016£2,290.731.74%
2017£2,372.853.58%
2018£2,436.912.70%
2019£2,497.842.50%
2020£2,542.801.80%
2021£2,606.162.49%
2022£2,812.047.90%
2023£3,010.917.07%
2024£3,128.343.90%*
* Compared to previous annual rate. Not final. See inflation summary for latest 12-month trailing value.
Click to show 55 more rows

This conversion table shows various other 1956 amounts in 2017 pounds, based on the 2,272.85% change in prices:

Conversion: 1956 pounds in 2017
Initial valueEquivalent value
£1 pound in 1956£23.73 pounds in 2017
£5 pounds in 1956£118.64 pounds in 2017
£10 pounds in 1956£237.28 pounds in 2017
£50 pounds in 1956£1,186.42 pounds in 2017
£100 pounds in 1956£2,372.85 pounds in 2017
£500 pounds in 1956£11,864.24 pounds in 2017
£1,000 pounds in 1956£23,728.48 pounds in 2017
£5,000 pounds in 1956£118,642.38 pounds in 2017
£10,000 pounds in 1956£237,284.77 pounds in 2017
£50,000 pounds in 1956£1,186,423.84 pounds in 2017
£100,000 pounds in 1956£2,372,847.68 pounds in 2017
£500,000 pounds in 1956£11,864,238.41 pounds in 2017
£1,000,000 pounds in 1956£23,728,476.82 pounds in 2017

How to calculate inflation rate for £100, 1956 to 2017

Our calculations use the following inflation rate formula to calculate the change in value between 1956 and 2017:

CPI in 2017 CPI in 1956
×
1956 GBP value
=
2017 GBP value

Then plug in historical CPI values. The U.K. CPI was 45.3 in the year 1956 and 1074.9 in 2017:

1074.945.3
×
£100
=
£2,372.85

£100 in 1956 has the same "purchasing power" or "buying power" as £2,372.85 in 2017.

To get the total inflation rate for the 61 years between 1956 and 2017, we use the following formula:

CPI in 2017 - CPI in 1956CPI in 1956
×
100
=
Cumulative inflation rate (61 years)

Plugging in the values to this equation, we get:

1074.9 - 45.345.3
×
100
=
2,273%

Data source & citation

Raw data for these calculations comes from the composite price index published by the UK Office for National Statistics (ONS). A composite index is created by combining price data from several different published sources, both official and unofficial. The Consumer Price Index, normally used to compute inflation, has only been tracked since 1988. All inflation calculations after 1988 use the Office for National Statistics' Consumer Price Index, except for the current year, which is based on The Bank of England's forecast.

You may use the following MLA citation for this page: “1956 pounds in 2017 | UK Inflation Calculator.” Official Inflation Data, Alioth Finance, 16 Nov. 2024, https://www.officialdata.org/1956-GBP-in-2017.

Special thanks to QuickChart for their chart image API, which is used for chart downloads.

in2013dollars.com is a reference website maintained by the Official Data Foundation.


Ian Webster

About the author

Ian Webster is an engineer and data expert based in San Mateo, California. He has worked for Google, NASA, and consulted for governments around the world on data pipelines and data analysis. Disappointed by the lack of clear resources on the impacts of inflation on economic indicators, Ian believes this website serves as a valuable public tool. Ian earned his degree in Computer Science from Dartmouth College.

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Inflation from 1956 to 2017
Cumulative price change2,272.85%
Average inflation rate5.33%
Converted amount
£100 base
£2,372.85
Price difference
£100 base
£2,272.85
CPI in 195645.300
CPI in 20171,074.900
Inflation in 19565.10%
Inflation in 20173.58%
£100 in 1956£2,372.85 in 2017