Inflation in France
In the year to August 2026, consumer prices in France rose 2.4%, up from 2.1% a month earlier. Since January 1955 prices have risen 1,582.8%, which means €100 then buys what €1,682.79 buys now, so the same basket of goods costs 16.8 times what it did.
Cumulative & Yearly Inflation
Inflation in France by year
Inflation is the change in that year's average prices against the year before, which is the figure usually quoted. The last two columns take €100 in January of that year and show what it is worth in August 2026, the most recent month on record. Only years measured in full are listed, so the year now running appears once it ends.
| Year | Inflation | €100 is now | Cumulative inflation |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1960 | 4.1% | 1,275.83 | 1,175.8% |
| 1980 | 13.6% | 361.05 | 261.0% |
| 2000 | 1.7% | 157.88 | 57.9% |
| 2020 | 0.5% | 119.58 | 19.6% |
| 2025 | 0.9% | 104.05 | 4.0% |
Every year from 1956 to 2025
| Year | Inflation | €100 is now | Cumulative inflation |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1956 | 1.9% | 1,667.08 | 1,567.1% |
| 1957 | 3.1% | 1,647.31 | 1,547.3% |
| 1958 | 15.2% | 1,445.45 | 1,345.4% |
| 1959 | 5.8% | 1,338.66 | 1,238.7% |
| 1960 | 4.1% | 1,275.83 | 1,175.8% |
| 1961 | 2.4% | 1,247.82 | 1,147.8% |
| 1962 | 5.3% | 1,193.04 | 1,093.0% |
| 1963 | 5.0% | 1,142.88 | 1,042.9% |
| 1964 | 3.2% | 1,091.97 | 992.0% |
| 1965 | 2.7% | 1,066.82 | 966.8% |
| 1966 | 2.6% | 1,039.33 | 939.3% |
| 1967 | 2.8% | 1,010.76 | 910.8% |
| 1968 | 4.5% | 972.25 | 872.2% |
| 1969 | 6.1% | 922.06 | 822.1% |
| 1970 | 5.3% | 873.12 | 773.1% |
| 1971 | 5.4% | 834.10 | 734.1% |
| 1972 | 6.1% | 789.34 | 689.3% |
| 1973 | 7.4% | 740.27 | 640.3% |
| 1974 | 13.7% | 671.13 | 571.1% |
| 1975 | 11.7% | 586.17 | 486.2% |
| 1976 | 9.6% | 534.78 | 434.8% |
| 1977 | 9.5% | 490.51 | 390.5% |
| 1978 | 9.2% | 449.27 | 349.3% |
| 1979 | 10.6% | 407.80 | 307.8% |
| 1980 | 13.6% | 361.05 | 261.0% |
| 1981 | 13.3% | 320.02 | 220.0% |
| 1982 | 12.0% | 281.10 | 181.1% |
| 1983 | 9.5% | 256.53 | 156.5% |
| 1984 | 7.7% | 235.42 | 135.4% |
| 1985 | 5.8% | 221.02 | 121.0% |
| 1986 | 2.5% | 212.06 | 112.1% |
| 1987 | 3.3% | 205.91 | 105.9% |
| 1988 | 2.7% | 201.14 | 101.1% |
| 1989 | 3.5% | 194.72 | 94.7% |
| 1990 | 3.2% | 188.31 | 88.3% |
| 1991 | 3.2% | 182.09 | 82.1% |
| 1992 | 2.4% | 177.44 | 77.4% |
| 1993 | 2.1% | 173.78 | 73.8% |
| 1994 | 1.7% | 170.62 | 70.6% |
| 1995 | 1.8% | 167.76 | 67.8% |
| 1996 | 2.0% | 164.54 | 64.5% |
| 1997 | 1.2% | 161.69 | 61.7% |
| 1998 | 0.7% | 160.73 | 60.7% |
| 1999 | 0.5% | 160.33 | 60.3% |
| 2000 | 1.7% | 157.88 | 57.9% |
| 2001 | 1.6% | 156.00 | 56.0% |
| 2002 | 1.9% | 152.55 | 52.5% |
| 2003 | 2.1% | 149.59 | 49.6% |
| 2004 | 2.1% | 146.66 | 46.7% |
| 2005 | 1.7% | 144.48 | 44.5% |
| 2006 | 1.7% | 141.56 | 41.6% |
| 2007 | 1.5% | 139.83 | 39.8% |
| 2008 | 2.8% | 135.99 | 36.0% |
| 2009 | 0.1% | 135.05 | 35.0% |
| 2010 | 1.5% | 133.56 | 33.6% |
| 2011 | 2.1% | 131.27 | 31.3% |
| 2012 | 2.0% | 128.27 | 28.3% |
| 2013 | 0.9% | 126.78 | 26.8% |
| 2014 | 0.5% | 125.96 | 26.0% |
| 2015 | 0.0% | 126.44 | 26.4% |
| 2016 | 0.2% | 126.16 | 26.2% |
| 2017 | 1.0% | 124.50 | 24.5% |
| 2018 | 1.9% | 122.85 | 22.8% |
| 2019 | 1.1% | 121.36 | 21.4% |
| 2020 | 0.5% | 119.58 | 19.6% |
| 2021 | 1.6% | 118.92 | 18.9% |
| 2022 | 5.2% | 115.62 | 15.6% |
| 2023 | 4.9% | 109.08 | 9.1% |
| 2024 | 2.0% | 105.76 | 5.8% |
| 2025 | 0.9% | 104.05 | 4.0% |
A short history of inflation in France
The Fourth Republic Crisis (1956 to 1958)
French inflation peaked at 18.7% in the year to May 1958, in the last months of the Fourth Republic. Its causes were fiscal and colonial: the cost of the war in Algeria and of reconstruction, financed by deficits that successive short-lived governments could not close, with a franc that had to be devalued repeatedly to keep exports competitive.
The Rueff Plan and the New Franc (1958 to 1960)
The response came with the change of regime. The stabilisation plan prepared by Jacques Rueff and adopted at the end of 1958 combined spending cuts and tax rises with one further devaluation, and on 1 January 1960 the new franc replaced the old at a hundred to one. Inflation returned with the oil shocks of the 1970s and was brought down after 1983, when the government abandoned reflation in favour of holding the franc's parity within the European exchange rate system, a policy that led eventually to the euro.
Post-Covid Inflation (2021 to 2023)
In France, prices rose fastest in February 2023, at 6.3%. The causes of the post-Covid inflation were global in nature, beginning with the lockdowns: factories and ports closed and the shipping between them fell out of sequence, so goods took longer to make and longer to arrive. Governments had spent heavily supporting household incomes through those closures, so when restrictions lifted there was money waiting to be spent and not enough on the shelves to spend it on. Then in February 2022 Russia invaded Ukraine, disrupting two of the world's largest suppliers of wheat, fertiliser, oil and gas at once, and the cost of everything grown, heated or transported rose with them.
Because the causes were shared, so was the timing: most countries peaked within a few months of one another in late 2022. The major inflation events covers this episode and the others in more detail.
Common questions about inflation in France
What is the current inflation rate in France?
Prices in France rose 2.4% in the year to August 2026. That is up from 2.1% a month earlier.
What would €100 in January 1955 be worth today?
€100.00 in January 1955 has the same buying power as €1,682.79 in August 2026, a rise of 1,582.8%.
What would €100 in January 1970 be worth today?
€100.00 in January 1970 has the same buying power as €873.12 in August 2026, a rise of 773.1%.
What would €100 in January 2000 be worth today?
€100.00 in January 2000 has the same buying power as €157.88 in August 2026, a rise of 57.9%.
What would €100 in January 2020 be worth today?
€100.00 in January 2020 has the same buying power as €119.58 in August 2026, a rise of 19.6%.
What is France's inflation target?
France targets 2%. The latest reading of 2.4% is running 0.4 points above it.
How inflation in France is measured
The figures on this page come from INSEE (indice des prix à la consommation, all households, France entière). The series is indexed so that a chosen base year equals 100, and the calculator works out the ratio between any two dates you pick.
The currency shown is the euro (€). Coverage runs from January 1955 to August 2026, and updates automatically as each new release is published. Figures for the most recent periods can be revised by the statistics office after first publication.
Use this data
Click the reference to select it.
Compare Inflation. “Inflation in France.” Figures for August 2026. https://compareinflation.com/inflation-in-france/
Download both series (CSV) — 860 months of the Consumer Price Index from January 1955 and 368 of the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) from January 1996, with the annual rate for each.