£1 in 1970 is worth £1.17 in 1972

Value of £1 from 1970 to 1972

£1 in 1970 is equivalent in purchasing power to about £1.17 in 1972, an increase of £0.17 over 2 years. The pound had an average inflation rate of 8.28% per year between 1970 and 1972, producing a cumulative price increase of 17.24%.

This means that prices in 1972 are 1.17 times as high as average prices since 1970, according to the Office for National Statistics composite price index.

The inflation rate in 1970 was 6.40%. The inflation rate in 1972 was 7.13%. The 1972 inflation rate is higher compared to the average inflation rate of 5.54% per year between 1972 and 2024.


Inflation from 1970 to 1972
Cumulative price change17.24%
Average inflation rate8.28%
Converted amount
£1 base
£1.17
Price difference
£1 base
£0.17
CPI in 197073.100
CPI in 197285.700
Inflation in 19706.40%
Inflation in 19727.13%
£1 in 1970£1.17 in 1972

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

Buying power of £1 in 1970

This chart shows a calculation of buying power equivalence for £1 in 1970 (price index tracking began in 1750).

For example, if you started with £1, you would need to end with £1.17 in order to "adjust" for inflation (sometimes refered to as "beating inflation").

When £1 is equivalent to £1.17 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 1970 dollars, the chart below shows how £1 is worth less over 2 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: 1970-1972
YearPound ValueInflation Rate
1970£1.006.40%
1971£1.099.44%
1972£1.177.13%
1973£1.289.10%
1974£1.4816.04%
1975£1.8424.24%
1976£2.1516.54%
1977£2.4915.85%
1978£2.708.30%
1979£3.0613.39%
1980£3.6117.99%
1981£4.0411.87%
1982£4.388.61%
1983£4.584.59%
1984£4.814.98%
1985£5.116.08%
1986£5.283.40%
1987£5.504.17%
1988£5.774.90%
1989£6.227.78%
1990£6.819.46%
1991£7.215.87%
1992£7.473.74%
1993£7.591.59%
1994£7.782.41%
1995£8.053.47%
1996£8.242.41%
1997£8.503.14%
1998£8.793.43%
1999£8.931.54%
2000£9.192.96%
2001£9.351.77%
2002£9.511.67%
2003£9.782.89%
2004£10.082.98%
2005£10.362.82%
2006£10.693.20%
2007£11.154.29%
2008£11.593.99%
2009£11.53-0.53%
2010£12.064.61%
2011£12.695.20%
2012£13.103.21%
2013£13.503.04%
2014£13.822.36%
2015£13.950.99%
2016£14.201.74%
2017£14.703.58%
2018£15.102.70%
2019£15.482.50%
2020£15.761.80%
2021£16.152.49%
2022£17.437.90%
2023£18.667.07%
2024£19.393.90%*
* Compared to previous annual rate. Not final. See inflation summary for latest 12-month trailing value.

This conversion table shows various other 1970 amounts in 1972 pounds, based on the 17.24% change in prices:

Conversion: 1970 pounds in 1972
Initial valueEquivalent value
£1 pound in 1970£1.17 pounds in 1972
£5 pounds in 1970£5.86 pounds in 1972
£10 pounds in 1970£11.72 pounds in 1972
£50 pounds in 1970£58.62 pounds in 1972
£100 pounds in 1970£117.24 pounds in 1972
£500 pounds in 1970£586.18 pounds in 1972
£1,000 pounds in 1970£1,172.37 pounds in 1972
£5,000 pounds in 1970£5,861.83 pounds in 1972
£10,000 pounds in 1970£11,723.67 pounds in 1972
£50,000 pounds in 1970£58,618.33 pounds in 1972
£100,000 pounds in 1970£117,236.66 pounds in 1972
£500,000 pounds in 1970£586,183.31 pounds in 1972
£1,000,000 pounds in 1970£1,172,366.62 pounds in 1972

How to calculate inflation rate for £1, 1970 to 1972

Our calculations use the following inflation rate formula to calculate the change in value between 1970 and 1972:

CPI in 1972 CPI in 1970
×
1970 GBP value
=
1972 GBP value

Then plug in historical CPI values. The U.K. CPI was 73.1 in the year 1970 and 85.7 in 1972:

85.773.1
×
£1
=
£1.17

£1 in 1970 has the same "purchasing power" or "buying power" as £1.17 in 1972.

To get the total inflation rate for the 2 years between 1970 and 1972, we use the following formula:

CPI in 1972 - CPI in 1970CPI in 1970
×
100
=
Cumulative inflation rate (2 years)

Plugging in the values to this equation, we get:

85.7 - 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 → 1972 | UK Inflation Calculator.” Official Inflation Data, Alioth Finance, 29 Mar. 2024, https://www.officialdata.org/1970-GBP-in-1972?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 1972
Cumulative price change17.24%
Average inflation rate8.28%
Converted amount
£1 base
£1.17
Price difference
£1 base
£0.17
CPI in 197073.100
CPI in 197285.700
Inflation in 19706.40%
Inflation in 19727.13%
£1 in 1970£1.17 in 1972