Buying power of CA$100 in 1919

This chart shows calculation of buying power equivalence, often referred to as "the value of a dollar" over time for CA$100 in 1919 (price index tracking began in 1914).

According to Statistics Canada, each of these CAD amounts below is equal in terms of what it could buy at the time:

How to Calculate Inflation Rate for CA$100, 1919 to 1989

This inflation calculator uses the following inflation rate formula:

Then plug in historical CPI values. The Canadian CPI was 10.2 in the year 1919 and 76.1 in 1989:

CA$100 in 1919 has the same "purchasing power" or "buying power" as CA$746.08 in 1989.

To get the total inflation rate for the 70 years between 1919 and 1989, we use the following formula:

Plugging in the values to this equation, we get:

News headlines from 1919

Politics and news often influence economic performance. Here's what was happening at the time:

• The German Farmer's Party, which would later develop into National Socialist Party, is formed.
• The Bolshevik party re-establishes the idea of a five-member Politburo at the 8th Congress of the Russian Communist Party, making it the central body of political power in the Soviet Union. Its first members were Vladimir Lenin, Leon Trotsky, Joseph Stalin, Lev Kamenev and Nikolai Krestinsky.
• The Turkish War of Independence begins after Mustafa Kemal Ataturk's lands at Samsun, on the Black Sea.
• The Treaty of Versailles is signed ending World War I and establishing the League of Nations.

Data Source & Citation

Raw data for these calculations comes from the government of Canada's annual Consumer Price Index (CPI), established in 1914 and computed by Statistics Canada (StatCan).

» Read more about inflation and investment.