£1 in 1915 is worth £1.45 in 1936

Value of £1 from 1915 to 1936

£1 in 1915 is equivalent in purchasing power to about £1.45 in 1936, an increase of £0.45 over 21 years. The pound had an average inflation rate of 1.80% per year between 1915 and 1936, producing a cumulative price increase of 45.45%.

This means that prices in 1936 are 1.45 times as high as average prices since 1915, according to the Office for National Statistics composite price index.

The inflation rate in 1915 was 12.24%. The inflation rate in 1936 was 0.63%. The 1936 inflation rate is lower compared to the average inflation rate of 5.23% per year between 1936 and 2024.


Inflation from 1915 to 1936
Cumulative price change45.45%
Average inflation rate1.80%
Converted amount
£1 base
£1.45
Price difference
£1 base
£0.45
CPI in 191511.000
CPI in 193616.000
Inflation in 191512.24%
Inflation in 19360.63%
£1 in 1915£1.45 in 1936

GBP inflation since 1915
Annual Rate, the Office for National Statistics CPI
Download

Buying power of £1 in 1915

This chart shows a calculation of buying power equivalence for £1 in 1915 (price index tracking began in 1750).

For example, if you started with £1, you would need to end with £1.45 in order to "adjust" for inflation (sometimes refered to as "beating inflation").

When £1 is equivalent to £1.45 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 1915 dollars, the chart below shows how £1 is worth less over 21 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: 1915-1936
YearPound ValueInflation Rate
1915£1.0012.24%
1916£1.1818.18%
1917£1.4825.38%
1918£1.8122.09%
1919£1.9910.05%
1920£2.3015.53%
1921£2.10-8.70%
1922£1.81-13.85%
1923£1.70-6.03%
1924£1.69-0.53%
1925£1.690.00%
1926£1.68-0.54%
1927£1.64-2.70%
1928£1.640.00%
1929£1.62-1.11%
1930£1.57-2.81%
1931£1.51-4.05%
1932£1.47-2.41%
1933£1.44-2.47%
1934£1.440.00%
1935£1.450.63%
1936£1.450.63%
1937£1.513.75%
1938£1.531.20%
1939£1.572.98%
1940£1.8416.76%
1941£2.0410.89%
1942£2.187.14%
1943£2.253.33%
1944£2.322.82%
1945£2.382.75%
1946£2.453.05%
1947£2.637.04%
1948£2.837.61%
1949£2.912.89%
1950£3.003.13%
1951£3.279.09%
1952£3.579.17%
1953£3.683.05%
1954£3.751.98%
1955£3.924.36%
1956£4.125.10%
1957£4.263.53%
1958£4.403.20%
1959£4.420.41%
1960£4.461.03%
1961£4.623.46%
1962£4.824.33%
1963£4.911.89%
1964£5.073.33%
1965£5.314.66%
1966£5.523.94%
1967£5.662.64%
1968£5.934.65%
1969£6.255.37%
1970£6.656.40%
1971£7.279.44%
1972£7.797.13%
1973£8.509.10%
1974£9.8616.04%
1975£12.2524.24%
1976£14.2816.54%
1977£16.5515.85%
1978£17.928.30%
1979£20.3213.39%
1980£23.9717.99%
1981£26.8211.87%
1982£29.138.61%
1983£30.464.59%
1984£31.984.98%
1985£33.936.08%
1986£35.083.40%
1987£36.554.17%
1988£38.344.90%
1989£41.327.78%
1990£45.239.46%
1991£47.885.87%
1992£49.673.74%
1993£50.461.59%
1994£51.682.41%
1995£53.473.47%
1996£54.762.41%
1997£56.483.14%
1998£58.423.43%
1999£59.321.54%
2000£61.072.96%
2001£62.151.77%
2002£63.191.67%
2003£65.022.89%
2004£66.952.98%
2005£68.852.82%
2006£71.053.20%
2007£74.094.29%
2008£77.053.99%
2009£76.64-0.53%
2010£80.174.61%
2011£84.355.20%
2012£87.053.21%
2013£89.703.04%
2014£91.822.36%
2015£92.730.99%
2016£94.341.74%
2017£97.723.58%
2018£100.362.70%
2019£102.872.50%
2020£104.721.80%
2021£107.332.49%
2022£115.817.90%
2023£123.997.07%
2024£128.833.90%*
* Compared to previous annual rate. Not final. See inflation summary for latest 12-month trailing value.
Click to show 15 more rows

This conversion table shows various other 1915 amounts in 1936 pounds, based on the 45.45% change in prices:

Conversion: 1915 pounds in 1936
Initial valueEquivalent value
£1 pound in 1915£1.45 pounds in 1936
£5 pounds in 1915£7.27 pounds in 1936
£10 pounds in 1915£14.55 pounds in 1936
£50 pounds in 1915£72.73 pounds in 1936
£100 pounds in 1915£145.45 pounds in 1936
£500 pounds in 1915£727.27 pounds in 1936
£1,000 pounds in 1915£1,454.55 pounds in 1936
£5,000 pounds in 1915£7,272.73 pounds in 1936
£10,000 pounds in 1915£14,545.45 pounds in 1936
£50,000 pounds in 1915£72,727.27 pounds in 1936
£100,000 pounds in 1915£145,454.55 pounds in 1936
£500,000 pounds in 1915£727,272.73 pounds in 1936
£1,000,000 pounds in 1915£1,454,545.45 pounds in 1936

How to calculate inflation rate for £1, 1915 to 1936

Our calculations use the following inflation rate formula to calculate the change in value between 1915 and 1936:

CPI in 1936 CPI in 1915
×
1915 GBP value
=
1936 GBP value

Then plug in historical CPI values. The U.K. CPI was 11 in the year 1915 and 16 in 1936:

1611
×
£1
=
£1.45

£1 in 1915 has the same "purchasing power" or "buying power" as £1.45 in 1936.

To get the total inflation rate for the 21 years between 1915 and 1936, we use the following formula:

CPI in 1936 - CPI in 1915CPI in 1915
×
100
=
Cumulative inflation rate (21 years)

Plugging in the values to this equation, we get:

16 - 1111
×
100
=
45%

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 1915 → 1936 | UK Inflation Calculator.” Official Inflation Data, Alioth Finance, 31 Oct. 2024, https://www.officialdata.org/uk/inflation/1915?amount=1&endYear=1936.

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 1915 to 1936
Cumulative price change45.45%
Average inflation rate1.80%
Converted amount
£1 base
£1.45
Price difference
£1 base
£0.45
CPI in 191511.000
CPI in 193616.000
Inflation in 191512.24%
Inflation in 19360.63%
£1 in 1915£1.45 in 1936