£1 in 1970 is worth £0.83 in 1966

Value of £1 from 1970 to 1966

£1 in 1970 is equivalent in purchasing power to about £0.83 in 1966, an increase of £-0.17 over 4 years. The pound had an average inflation rate of 4.76% per year between 1966 and 1970, producing a cumulative price increase of -16.96%.

This means that prices in 1966 are 16.96% lower than average prices since 1970, according to the Office for National Statistics composite price index.

The inflation rate in 1966 was 3.94%. The inflation rate in 1970 was 6.40%. The 1970 inflation rate is higher compared to the average inflation rate of 5.64% per year between 1970 and 2024.


Inflation from 1970 to 1966
Cumulative price change-16.96%
Average inflation rate4.76%
Converted amount
£1 base
£0.83
Price difference
£1 base
£-0.17
CPI in 197073.100
CPI in 196660.700
Inflation in 19663.94%
Inflation in 19706.40%
£1 in 1970£0.83 in 1966

GBP inflation since 1966
Annual Rate, the Office for National Statistics CPI
Download

Buying power of £1 in 1966

This chart shows a calculation of buying power equivalence for £1 in 1966 (price index tracking began in 1750).

For example, if you started with £1, you would need to end with £0.83 in order to "adjust" for inflation (sometimes refered to as "beating inflation").

When £1 is equivalent to £0.83 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 1966 dollars, the chart below shows how £1 is worth less over 4 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: 1966-1970
YearPound ValueInflation Rate
1966£1.003.94%
1967£1.032.64%
1968£1.074.65%
1969£1.135.37%
1970£1.206.40%
1971£1.329.44%
1972£1.417.13%
1973£1.549.10%
1974£1.7916.04%
1975£2.2224.24%
1976£2.5916.54%
1977£3.0015.85%
1978£3.258.30%
1979£3.6813.39%
1980£4.3417.99%
1981£4.8611.87%
1982£5.288.61%
1983£5.524.59%
1984£5.804.98%
1985£6.156.08%
1986£6.363.40%
1987£6.624.17%
1988£6.954.90%
1989£7.497.78%
1990£8.209.46%
1991£8.685.87%
1992£9.003.74%
1993£9.141.59%
1994£9.372.41%
1995£9.693.47%
1996£9.922.41%
1997£10.243.14%
1998£10.593.43%
1999£10.751.54%
2000£11.072.96%
2001£11.261.77%
2002£11.451.67%
2003£11.782.89%
2004£12.132.98%
2005£12.482.82%
2006£12.873.20%
2007£13.434.29%
2008£13.963.99%
2009£13.89-0.53%
2010£14.534.61%
2011£15.295.20%
2012£15.783.21%
2013£16.263.04%
2014£16.642.36%
2015£16.800.99%
2016£17.101.74%
2017£17.713.58%
2018£18.192.70%
2019£18.642.50%
2020£18.981.80%
2021£19.452.49%
2022£20.997.90%
2023£22.477.07%
2024£23.353.90%*
* Compared to previous annual rate. Not final. See inflation summary for latest 12-month trailing value.

This conversion table shows various other 1966 amounts in 1970 pounds, based on the -16.96% change in prices:

Conversion: 1966 pounds in 1970
Initial valueEquivalent value
£1 pound in 1966£1.20 pounds in 1970
£5 pounds in 1966£6.02 pounds in 1970
£10 pounds in 1966£12.04 pounds in 1970
£50 pounds in 1966£60.21 pounds in 1970
£100 pounds in 1966£120.43 pounds in 1970
£500 pounds in 1966£602.14 pounds in 1970
£1,000 pounds in 1966£1,204.28 pounds in 1970
£5,000 pounds in 1966£6,021.42 pounds in 1970
£10,000 pounds in 1966£12,042.83 pounds in 1970
£50,000 pounds in 1966£60,214.17 pounds in 1970
£100,000 pounds in 1966£120,428.34 pounds in 1970
£500,000 pounds in 1966£602,141.68 pounds in 1970
£1,000,000 pounds in 1966£1,204,283.36 pounds in 1970

How to calculate inflation rate for £1, 1966 to 1970

Our calculations use the following inflation rate formula to calculate the change in value between 1966 and 1970:

CPI in 1966 CPI in 1970
×
1970 GBP value
=
1966 GBP value

Then plug in historical CPI values. The U.K. CPI was 73.1 in the year 1970 and 60.7 in 1966:

60.773.1
×
£1
=
£0.83

£1 in 1970 has the same "purchasing power" or "buying power" as £0.83 in 1966.

To get the total inflation rate for the 4 years between 1966 and 1970, we use the following formula:

CPI in 1966 - CPI in 1970CPI in 1970
×
100
=
Cumulative inflation rate (4 years)

Plugging in the values to this equation, we get:

60.7 - 73.173.1
×
100
=
-17%

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 1970 → 1966 | UK Inflation Calculator.” Official Inflation Data, Alioth Finance, 17 Mar. 2024, https://www.officialdata.org/1970-GBP-in-1966?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 1970 to 1966
Cumulative price change-16.96%
Average inflation rate4.76%
Converted amount
£1 base
£0.83
Price difference
£1 base
£-0.17
CPI in 197073.100
CPI in 196660.700
Inflation in 19663.94%
Inflation in 19706.40%
£1 in 1970£0.83 in 1966