£1 in 1900 is worth £1.01 in 1903

Value of £1 from 1900 to 1903

£1 in 1900 is equivalent in purchasing power to about £1.01 in 1903, an increase of £0.01 over 3 years. The pound had an average inflation rate of 0.36% per year between 1900 and 1903, producing a cumulative price increase of 1.09%.

This means that prices in 1903 are 1.01 times as high as average prices since 1900, according to the Office for National Statistics composite price index.

The inflation rate in 1900 was 4.55%. The inflation rate in 1903 was 1.09%. The 1903 inflation rate is lower compared to the average inflation rate of 4.24% per year between 1903 and 2024.


Inflation from 1900 to 1903
Cumulative price change1.09%
Average inflation rate0.36%
Converted amount
£1 base
£1.01
Price difference
£1 base
£0.01
CPI in 19009.200
CPI in 19039.300
Inflation in 19004.55%
Inflation in 19031.09%
£1 in 1900£1.01 in 1903

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

Buying power of £1 in 1900

This chart shows a calculation of buying power equivalence for £1 in 1900 (price index tracking began in 1750).

For example, if you started with £1, you would need to end with £1.01 in order to "adjust" for inflation (sometimes refered to as "beating inflation").

When £1 is equivalent to £1.01 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 1900 dollars, the chart below shows how £1 is worth less over 3 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: 1900-1903
YearPound ValueInflation Rate
1900£1.004.55%
1901£1.000.00%
1902£1.000.00%
1903£1.011.09%
1904£1.010.00%
1905£1.010.00%
1906£1.010.00%
1907£1.021.08%
1908£1.020.00%
1909£1.031.06%
1910£1.041.05%
1911£1.040.00%
1912£1.083.13%
1913£1.07-1.01%
1914£1.070.00%
1915£1.2012.24%
1916£1.4118.18%
1917£1.7725.38%
1918£2.1622.09%
1919£2.3810.05%
1920£2.7515.53%
1921£2.51-8.70%
1922£2.16-13.85%
1923£2.03-6.03%
1924£2.02-0.53%
1925£2.020.00%
1926£2.01-0.54%
1927£1.96-2.70%
1928£1.960.00%
1929£1.93-1.11%
1930£1.88-2.81%
1931£1.80-4.05%
1932£1.76-2.41%
1933£1.72-2.47%
1934£1.720.00%
1935£1.730.63%
1936£1.740.63%
1937£1.803.75%
1938£1.831.20%
1939£1.882.98%
1940£2.2016.76%
1941£2.4310.89%
1942£2.617.14%
1943£2.703.33%
1944£2.772.82%
1945£2.852.75%
1946£2.933.05%
1947£3.147.04%
1948£3.387.61%
1949£3.482.89%
1950£3.593.13%
1951£3.919.09%
1952£4.279.17%
1953£4.403.05%
1954£4.491.98%
1955£4.684.36%
1956£4.925.10%
1957£5.103.53%
1958£5.263.20%
1959£5.280.41%
1960£5.341.03%
1961£5.523.46%
1962£5.764.33%
1963£5.871.89%
1964£6.073.33%
1965£6.354.66%
1966£6.603.94%
1967£6.772.64%
1968£7.094.65%
1969£7.475.37%
1970£7.956.40%
1971£8.709.44%
1972£9.327.13%
1973£10.169.10%
1974£11.7916.04%
1975£14.6524.24%
1976£17.0816.54%
1977£19.7815.85%
1978£21.428.30%
1979£24.2913.39%
1980£28.6617.99%
1981£32.0711.87%
1982£34.838.61%
1983£36.424.59%
1984£38.244.98%
1985£40.576.08%
1986£41.953.40%
1987£43.704.17%
1988£45.844.90%
1989£49.407.78%
1990£54.089.46%
1991£57.255.87%
1992£59.393.74%
1993£60.341.59%
1994£61.792.41%
1995£63.933.47%
1996£65.482.41%
1997£67.533.14%
1998£69.853.43%
1999£70.921.54%
2000£73.022.96%
2001£74.321.77%
2002£75.551.67%
2003£77.742.89%
2004£80.052.98%
2005£82.322.82%
2006£84.953.20%
2007£88.594.29%
2008£92.123.99%
2009£91.63-0.53%
2010£95.864.61%
2011£100.855.20%
2012£104.093.21%
2013£107.253.04%
2014£109.782.36%
2015£110.870.99%
2016£112.791.74%
2017£116.843.58%
2018£119.992.70%
2019£122.992.50%
2020£125.211.80%
2021£128.322.49%
2022£138.467.90%
2023£148.257.07%
2024£154.043.90%*
* Compared to previous annual rate. Not final. See inflation summary for latest 12-month trailing value.

This conversion table shows various other 1900 amounts in 1903 pounds, based on the 1.09% change in prices:

Conversion: 1900 pounds in 1903
Initial valueEquivalent value
£1 pound in 1900£1.01 pounds in 1903
£5 pounds in 1900£5.05 pounds in 1903
£10 pounds in 1900£10.11 pounds in 1903
£50 pounds in 1900£50.54 pounds in 1903
£100 pounds in 1900£101.09 pounds in 1903
£500 pounds in 1900£505.43 pounds in 1903
£1,000 pounds in 1900£1,010.87 pounds in 1903
£5,000 pounds in 1900£5,054.35 pounds in 1903
£10,000 pounds in 1900£10,108.70 pounds in 1903
£50,000 pounds in 1900£50,543.48 pounds in 1903
£100,000 pounds in 1900£101,086.96 pounds in 1903
£500,000 pounds in 1900£505,434.78 pounds in 1903
£1,000,000 pounds in 1900£1,010,869.57 pounds in 1903

How to calculate inflation rate for £1, 1900 to 1903

Our calculations use the following inflation rate formula to calculate the change in value between 1900 and 1903:

CPI in 1903 CPI in 1900
×
1900 GBP value
=
1903 GBP value

Then plug in historical CPI values. The U.K. CPI was 9.2 in the year 1900 and 9.3 in 1903:

9.39.2
×
£1
=
£1.01

£1 in 1900 has the same "purchasing power" or "buying power" as £1.01 in 1903.

To get the total inflation rate for the 3 years between 1900 and 1903, we use the following formula:

CPI in 1903 - CPI in 1900CPI in 1900
×
100
=
Cumulative inflation rate (3 years)

Plugging in the values to this equation, we get:

9.3 - 9.29.2
×
100
=
1%

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: “£1 in 1900 → 1903 | UK Inflation Calculator.” Official Inflation Data, Alioth Finance, 26 Mar. 2024, https://www.officialdata.org/1900-GBP-in-1903?amount=1.

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 1900 to 1903
Cumulative price change1.09%
Average inflation rate0.36%
Converted amount
£1 base
£1.01
Price difference
£1 base
£0.01
CPI in 19009.200
CPI in 19039.300
Inflation in 19004.55%
Inflation in 19031.09%
£1 in 1900£1.01 in 1903