Inflation in New Zealand
In the year to Q2 2026, consumer prices in New Zealand rose 4.1%, up from 3.1% a quarter earlier. Since Q1 1926 prices have risen 6,402.3%, which means NZ$100 then buys what NZ$6,502.28 buys now, so the same basket of goods costs 65.0 times what it did.
Cumulative & Yearly Inflation
Inflation in New Zealand 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 NZ$100 in January of that year and show what it is worth in Q2 2026, the most recent quarter on record. Only years measured in full are listed, so the year now running appears once it ends.
| Year | Inflation | NZ$100 is now | Cumulative inflation |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1930 | -2.0% | 6,591.31 | 6,491.3% |
| 1960 | 0.7% | 3,028.32 | 2,928.3% |
| 1990 | 6.1% | 236.75 | 136.8% |
| 2010 | 2.3% | 151.88 | 51.9% |
| 2025 | 2.8% | 104.62 | 4.6% |
Every year from 1927 to 2025
| Year | Inflation | NZ$100 is now | Cumulative inflation |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1927 | -0.8% | 6,506.29 | 6,406.3% |
| 1928 | 0.1% | 6,554.75 | 6,454.8% |
| 1929 | -0.3% | 6,550.68 | 6,450.7% |
| 1930 | -2.0% | 6,591.31 | 6,491.3% |
| 1931 | -7.8% | 7,043.93 | 6,943.9% |
| 1932 | -7.8% | 7,502.79 | 7,402.8% |
| 1933 | -4.5% | 8,237.07 | 8,137.1% |
| 1934 | 1.4% | 8,165.35 | 8,065.3% |
| 1935 | 3.7% | 7,947.87 | 7,847.9% |
| 1936 | 2.8% | 7,815.40 | 7,715.4% |
| 1937 | 7.0% | 7,310.62 | 7,210.6% |
| 1938 | 2.9% | 6,961.76 | 6,861.8% |
| 1939 | 4.6% | 6,774.96 | 6,675.0% |
| 1940 | 4.2% | 6,480.69 | 6,380.7% |
| 1941 | 3.7% | 6,216.80 | 6,116.8% |
| 1942 | 3.3% | 6,078.65 | 5,978.6% |
| 1943 | 2.4% | 5,845.89 | 5,745.9% |
| 1944 | 1.7% | 5,743.60 | 5,643.6% |
| 1945 | 1.4% | 5,644.83 | 5,544.8% |
| 1946 | 0.8% | 5,591.94 | 5,491.9% |
| 1947 | 3.3% | 5,572.95 | 5,473.0% |
| 1948 | 7.8% | 5,061.63 | 4,961.6% |
| 1949 | 1.7% | 4,958.41 | 4,858.4% |
| 1950 | 5.7% | 4,861.19 | 4,761.2% |
| 1951 | 11.0% | 4,423.21 | 4,323.2% |
| 1952 | 7.8% | 3,957.23 | 3,857.2% |
| 1953 | 4.5% | 3,793.74 | 3,693.7% |
| 1954 | 4.6% | 3,600.88 | 3,500.9% |
| 1955 | 2.5% | 3,496.77 | 3,396.8% |
| 1956 | 3.5% | 3,422.92 | 3,322.9% |
| 1957 | 2.2% | 3,330.86 | 3,230.9% |
| 1958 | 4.4% | 3,243.61 | 3,143.6% |
| 1959 | 3.8% | 3,044.27 | 2,944.3% |
| 1960 | 0.7% | 3,028.32 | 2,928.3% |
| 1961 | 1.8% | 2,981.45 | 2,881.4% |
| 1962 | 2.7% | 2,896.76 | 2,796.8% |
| 1963 | 2.0% | 2,844.48 | 2,744.5% |
| 1964 | 3.5% | 2,773.94 | 2,673.9% |
| 1965 | 3.4% | 2,659.07 | 2,559.1% |
| 1966 | 2.8% | 2,585.69 | 2,485.7% |
| 1967 | 6.1% | 2,481.00 | 2,381.0% |
| 1968 | 4.3% | 2,363.07 | 2,263.1% |
| 1969 | 4.9% | 2,240.49 | 2,140.5% |
| 1970 | 6.5% | 2,138.65 | 2,038.7% |
| 1971 | 10.4% | 1,938.79 | 1,838.8% |
| 1972 | 6.9% | 1,787.53 | 1,687.5% |
| 1973 | 8.2% | 1,686.82 | 1,586.8% |
| 1974 | 11.1% | 1,529.20 | 1,429.2% |
| 1975 | 14.7% | 1,350.74 | 1,250.7% |
| 1976 | 16.9% | 1,152.82 | 1,052.8% |
| 1977 | 14.4% | 1,014.28 | 914.3% |
| 1978 | 12.0% | 884.84 | 784.8% |
| 1979 | 13.7% | 801.54 | 701.5% |
| 1980 | 17.2% | 677.07 | 577.1% |
| 1981 | 15.4% | 587.51 | 487.5% |
| 1982 | 16.2% | 507.31 | 407.3% |
| 1983 | 7.3% | 450.36 | 350.4% |
| 1984 | 6.2% | 435.25 | 335.3% |
| 1985 | 15.4% | 383.80 | 283.8% |
| 1986 | 13.2% | 339.77 | 239.8% |
| 1987 | 15.7% | 287.22 | 187.2% |
| 1988 | 6.4% | 263.56 | 163.6% |
| 1989 | 5.7% | 253.38 | 153.4% |
| 1990 | 6.1% | 236.75 | 136.8% |
| 1991 | 2.6% | 226.49 | 126.5% |
| 1992 | 1.0% | 224.71 | 124.7% |
| 1993 | 1.3% | 222.56 | 122.6% |
| 1994 | 1.7% | 219.70 | 119.7% |
| 1995 | 3.8% | 211.25 | 111.2% |
| 1996 | 2.3% | 206.67 | 106.7% |
| 1997 | 1.2% | 203.05 | 103.0% |
| 1998 | 1.3% | 200.45 | 100.5% |
| 1999 | -0.1% | 200.64 | 100.6% |
| 2000 | 2.6% | 197.70 | 97.7% |
| 2001 | 2.6% | 191.83 | 91.8% |
| 2002 | 2.7% | 186.99 | 87.0% |
| 2003 | 1.8% | 182.39 | 82.4% |
| 2004 | 2.3% | 179.61 | 79.6% |
| 2005 | 3.0% | 174.76 | 74.8% |
| 2006 | 3.4% | 169.15 | 69.1% |
| 2007 | 2.4% | 164.96 | 65.0% |
| 2008 | 4.0% | 159.59 | 59.6% |
| 2009 | 2.1% | 154.99 | 55.0% |
| 2010 | 2.3% | 151.88 | 51.9% |
| 2011 | 4.0% | 145.39 | 45.4% |
| 2012 | 1.1% | 143.14 | 43.1% |
| 2013 | 1.1% | 141.92 | 41.9% |
| 2014 | 1.2% | 139.78 | 39.8% |
| 2015 | 0.3% | 139.43 | 39.4% |
| 2016 | 0.6% | 138.84 | 38.8% |
| 2017 | 1.9% | 135.90 | 35.9% |
| 2018 | 1.6% | 134.42 | 34.4% |
| 2019 | 1.6% | 132.46 | 32.5% |
| 2020 | 1.7% | 129.18 | 29.2% |
| 2021 | 3.9% | 127.25 | 27.2% |
| 2022 | 7.2% | 119.00 | 19.0% |
| 2023 | 5.7% | 111.58 | 11.6% |
| 2024 | 2.9% | 107.26 | 7.3% |
| 2025 | 2.8% | 104.62 | 4.6% |
A short history of inflation in New Zealand
Controls and Deregulation (1982 to 1988)
New Zealand's inflation peaked at 18.9% in the second quarter of 1987, at the end of a decade of upheaval. Wage and price controls, including an outright freeze between 1982 and 1984, had suppressed the measured rate without addressing what caused it. The government elected in 1984 floated the dollar, removed subsidies and controls, and introduced a goods and services tax in October 1986, all of which pushed the price level up as the suppressed inflation emerged.
The First Inflation Target (1989 to 1991)
What followed made New Zealand important out of all proportion to its size. The Reserve Bank of New Zealand Act, in force from February 1990, gave the bank independence and a single published target for inflation, the first arrangement of its kind anywhere. The target was met a year ahead of schedule, and within a decade most of the developed world had copied the design.
Post-Covid Inflation (2021 to 2023)
In New Zealand, prices rose fastest in Q2 2022, at 7.3%. 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 New Zealand
What is the current inflation rate in New Zealand?
Prices in New Zealand rose 4.1% in the year to Q2 2026. That is up from 3.1% a quarter earlier.
What would NZ$100 in Q1 1926 be worth today?
NZ$100.00 in Q1 1926 has the same buying power as NZ$6,502.28 in Q2 2026, a rise of 6,402.3%.
What would NZ$100 in Q1 1950 be worth today?
NZ$100.00 in Q1 1950 has the same buying power as NZ$4,861.19 in Q2 2026, a rise of 4,761.2%.
What would NZ$100 in Q1 1990 be worth today?
NZ$100.00 in Q1 1990 has the same buying power as NZ$236.75 in Q2 2026, a rise of 136.8%.
What would NZ$100 in Q1 2020 be worth today?
NZ$100.00 in Q1 2020 has the same buying power as NZ$129.18 in Q2 2026, a rise of 29.2%.
What is New Zealand's inflation target?
New Zealand targets 2%. The latest reading of 4.1% is running 2.1 points above it.
How inflation in New Zealand is measured
The figures on this page come from Stats NZ, republished by the OECD (CPI, all groups, quarterly). The series is indexed so that a chosen base year equals 100, and the calculator works out the ratio between any two dates you pick.
The currency shown is the New Zealand dollar (NZ$). Coverage runs from Q1 1926 to Q2 2026, and updates automatically as each new release is published. New Zealand publishes CPI once a quarter rather than monthly, so dates here are given as quarters. 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 New Zealand.” Figures for Q2 2026. https://compareinflation.com/inflation-in-new-zealand/
Download the full series (CSV) — 402 quarters, Q1 1926 to Q2 2026, with the annual rate for each.