UK consumer price index (2010 = 100)
UK consumer price index (2010 = 100) stood at 154.71 in 2025, according to Bank for International Settlements (BIS). It is one of the indicators in the Long-run prices and central bank table (Value · Annual), with a complete series running from 1661 to 2025. The complete series with an interactive chart, free to download.
This indicator in the Long-run prices and central bank table
| Indicator | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Consumer prices since 1661 | |||||||||||
| Consumer price index (2010 = 100) | 154.71 | 149.67 | 145.97 | 136.03 | 124.74 | 121.6 | 120.54 | 118.43 | 115.57 | 112.54 | |
| Inflation rate | 3.37 | 2.54 | 7.3 | 9.05 | 2.58 | 0.88 | 1.78 | 2.48 | 2.69 | 0.64 |
Understanding UK consumer price index (2010 = 100)
Historical price levels across the United Kingdom are captured here through a single index benchmarked to a specific reference period, tracking how the cost of a representative basket of consumer goods and services shifts across centuries. Unlike annual proportional rates, this series maintains a cumulative baseline rooted in, enabling researchers to observe long-term purchasing power erosion since the late seventeenth century. The underlying methodology stitches together archival price collections, parliamentary papers, and modern statistical surveys, accounting for structural shifts in household consumption habits from agrarian commodities to manufactured items and contemporary services. Housing costs, indirect taxation, and quality adjustments are incorporated through varying proxy measures depending on data availability in each historical epoch.
Interpreting these figures requires caution regarding ancient consumption weights that bear little resemblance to modern household expenditure patterns. Early archival inputs are subject to retrospective methodological adjustments as historical archives are re-analysed, meaning legacy estimates undergo periodic revision. Analysts should apply caution when comparing this cumulative index directly with unadjusted nominal wage series without accounting for taxation and welfare shifts. Annual comparisons are standard practice, though structural breaks caused by major wartime economies, rationing periods, and currency reforms demand careful contextualisation when evaluating multi-century price trajectories.
Frequently asked questions
- Why is the index set to 100 for a specific year?
- The reference period establishes a fixed mathematical anchor point for the entire multi-century series, allowing researchers to measure relative price shifts away from that specific benchmark year.
- How are medieval or early modern prices captured in this index?
- Archivists rely on surviving household accounts, parish records, institutional procurement ledgers, and parliamentary price collections to reconstruct historical baskets of goods.
- Does this index include housing costs for the entire timespan?
- Housing cost inclusion varies by era due to data constraints, shifting from historical proxy rents and building materials to modern owner-occupier housing measures in later decades.