£2,000 in 1945 is worth £86,375.60 in 2019

Value of £2,000 from 1945 to 2019

£2,000 in 1945 is equivalent in purchasing power to about £86,375.60 in 2019, an increase of £84,375.60 over 74 years. The pound had an average inflation rate of 5.22% per year between 1945 and 2019, producing a cumulative price increase of 4,218.78%.

This means that prices in 2019 are 43.19 times as high as average prices since 1945, according to the Office for National Statistics composite price index.

The inflation rate in 1945 was 2.75%. The inflation rate in 2019 was 2.50%. The 2019 inflation rate is lower compared to the average inflation rate of 4.60% per year between 2019 and 2024.


Inflation from 1945 to 2019
Cumulative price change4,218.78%
Average inflation rate5.22%
Converted amount
£2,000 base
£86,375.60
Price difference
£2,000 base
£84,375.60
CPI in 194526.200
CPI in 20191,131.520
Inflation in 19452.75%
Inflation in 20192.50%
£2,000 in 1945£86,375.60 in 2019

GBP inflation since 1945
Annual Rate, the Office for National Statistics CPI
Download

Buying power of £2,000 in 1945

This chart shows a calculation of buying power equivalence for £2,000 in 1945 (price index tracking began in 1750).

For example, if you started with £2,000, you would need to end with £86,375.60 in order to "adjust" for inflation (sometimes refered to as "beating inflation").

When £2,000 is equivalent to £86,375.60 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 1945 dollars, the chart below shows how £2,000 is worth less over 74 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: 1945-2019
YearPound ValueInflation Rate
1945£2,000.002.75%
1946£2,061.073.05%
1947£2,206.117.04%
1948£2,374.057.61%
1949£2,442.752.89%
1950£2,519.083.13%
1951£2,748.099.09%
1952£3,000.009.17%
1953£3,091.603.05%
1954£3,152.671.98%
1955£3,290.084.36%
1956£3,458.025.10%
1957£3,580.153.53%
1958£3,694.663.20%
1959£3,709.920.41%
1960£3,748.091.03%
1961£3,877.863.46%
1962£4,045.804.33%
1963£4,122.141.89%
1964£4,259.543.33%
1965£4,458.024.66%
1966£4,633.593.94%
1967£4,755.732.64%
1968£4,977.104.65%
1969£5,244.275.37%
1970£5,580.156.40%
1971£6,106.879.44%
1972£6,541.987.13%
1973£7,137.409.10%
1974£8,282.4416.04%
1975£10,290.0824.24%
1976£11,992.3716.54%
1977£13,893.1315.85%
1978£15,045.808.30%
1979£17,061.0713.39%
1980£20,129.7717.99%
1981£22,519.0811.87%
1982£24,458.028.61%
1983£25,580.154.59%
1984£26,854.964.98%
1985£28,488.556.08%
1986£29,458.023.40%
1987£30,687.024.17%
1988£32,190.844.90%
1989£34,694.667.78%
1990£37,977.109.46%
1991£40,206.115.87%
1992£41,709.923.74%
1993£42,374.051.59%
1994£43,396.952.41%
1995£44,900.763.47%
1996£45,984.732.41%
1997£47,427.483.14%
1998£49,053.443.43%
1999£49,809.161.54%
2000£51,282.442.96%
2001£52,190.841.77%
2002£53,061.071.67%
2003£54,595.422.89%
2004£56,221.372.98%
2005£57,809.162.82%
2006£59,656.493.20%
2007£62,213.744.29%
2008£64,694.663.99%
2009£64,351.15-0.53%
2010£67,320.614.61%
2011£70,824.435.20%
2012£73,099.243.21%
2013£75,320.613.04%
2014£77,099.242.36%
2015£77,862.600.99%
2016£79,213.741.74%
2017£82,053.443.58%
2018£84,268.882.70%
2019£86,375.602.50%
2020£87,930.361.80%
2021£90,121.292.49%
2022£97,240.877.90%
2023£104,117.757.07%
2024£108,178.343.90%*
* Compared to previous annual rate. Not final. See inflation summary for latest 12-month trailing value.
Click to show 68 more rows

This conversion table shows various other 1945 amounts in 2019 pounds, based on the 4,218.78% change in prices:

Conversion: 1945 pounds in 2019
Initial valueEquivalent value
£1 pound in 1945£43.19 pounds in 2019
£5 pounds in 1945£215.94 pounds in 2019
£10 pounds in 1945£431.88 pounds in 2019
£50 pounds in 1945£2,159.39 pounds in 2019
£100 pounds in 1945£4,318.78 pounds in 2019
£500 pounds in 1945£21,593.90 pounds in 2019
£1,000 pounds in 1945£43,187.80 pounds in 2019
£5,000 pounds in 1945£215,939.00 pounds in 2019
£10,000 pounds in 1945£431,878.00 pounds in 2019
£50,000 pounds in 1945£2,159,390.00 pounds in 2019
£100,000 pounds in 1945£4,318,779.99 pounds in 2019
£500,000 pounds in 1945£21,593,899.95 pounds in 2019
£1,000,000 pounds in 1945£43,187,799.90 pounds in 2019

How to calculate inflation rate for £2,000, 1945 to 2019

Our calculations use the following inflation rate formula to calculate the change in value between 1945 and 2019:

CPI in 2019 CPI in 1945
×
1945 GBP value
=
2019 GBP value

Then plug in historical CPI values. The U.K. CPI was 26.2 in the year 1945 and 1131.5203575 in 2019:

1131.520357526.2
×
£2,000
=
£86,375.60

£2,000 in 1945 has the same "purchasing power" or "buying power" as £86,375.60 in 2019.

To get the total inflation rate for the 74 years between 1945 and 2019, we use the following formula:

CPI in 2019 - CPI in 1945CPI in 1945
×
100
=
Cumulative inflation rate (74 years)

Plugging in the values to this equation, we get:

1131.5203575 - 26.226.2
×
100
=
4,219%

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: “£2,000 in 1945 → 2019 | UK Inflation Calculator.” Official Inflation Data, Alioth Finance, 28 Mar. 2024, https://www.officialdata.org/1945-GBP-in-2019?amount=2000.

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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» Read more about inflation and investment.

Inflation from 1945 to 2019
Cumulative price change4,218.78%
Average inflation rate5.22%
Converted amount
£2,000 base
£86,375.60
Price difference
£2,000 base
£84,375.60
CPI in 194526.200
CPI in 20191,131.520
Inflation in 19452.75%
Inflation in 20192.50%
£2,000 in 1945£86,375.60 in 2019