RPI inflation, 1952 to July 2026

£1.00 in 1952 is £42.04 today

That £1.00 bought 4.3 dozen eggs in 1952. Today it buys 0.42.

Prices up 4,104%5.1% a year on averageMultiply by 42.04

Measured with the Retail Prices Index, the only official series that runs back to 1948. Use CPI instead.

It takes 42.0 of today's pounds to match one from 1952

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What £1.00 buys

Official average shop prices, not a basket. Things marked as outrunning inflation got dearer faster than everything else; things that lagged got relatively cheaper.

Item	1952	Today
dozen eggslagged inflation23p then, about £2.38 today	4.3	0.42
pints of milklagged inflation3p then, about 70p today	37	1.4
Same money, adjusted for inflation	£1.00	£42.04

The ONS stopped publishing these average prices in January 2025. Today's figures are that last reading moved on with inflation, so treat them as close rather than exact.