pound.one

RPI inflation, 1952 to July 2026

£1,000 in 1952 is £42,036 today

That £1,000 bought 4,348 dozen eggs in 1952. Today it buys 421.

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.

×42 £1 in 1952£42.04 today
It takes 42.0 of today's pounds to match one from 1952
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What £1,000 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.

Item1952Today
dozen eggslagged inflation23p then, about £2.38 today4,348421
pints of milklagged inflation3p then, about 70p today37,0371,439
Same money, adjusted for inflation£1,000£42,036

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.