Percentage Increase Calculator
Calculate the percentage increase from one number to another, or increase a number by a given percentage.
What is the Percentage Increase Calculator?
Percentage increase expresses growth relative to the original value.
How does it work?
Subtract the original from the new value, divide by the original and multiply by 100.
Formula
% increase = (New − Original) ÷ |Original| × 100
Example
A price rising from ₹80 to ₹100 is a 25% increase. Increasing 200 by 15% gives 230.
Step by step
For example, from 187 to 272: the increase is 85, and 85 ÷ 187 = 0.4545, so the increase is 45.45%. If the answer is negative, the value went down, and the result is a percentage decrease.
- Subtract the original value from the new value to get the increase.
- Divide the increase by the original value.
- Multiply by 100 to express it as a percentage.
Worked examples
| From | To | Change | Percentage |
|---|
| ₹80 | ₹100 | +₹20 | 25% increase |
| ₹100 | ₹80 | −₹20 | 20% decrease |
| 187 | 272 | +85 | 45.45% increase |
| ₹25,000 salary | ₹32,000 salary | +₹7,000 | 28% increase |
| 45 marks | 54 marks | +9 | 20% increase |
The most common mistake
Always divide by the original (starting) value. Going from ₹80 to ₹100 is a 25% increase, but going back from ₹100 to ₹80 is only a 20% decrease, because the starting value is different. Dividing by the new value would wrongly give 20% for the increase.
This asymmetry is why a 50% loss needs a 100% gain to recover, and why a price that rises 10% and then falls 10% ends up 1% lower than where it started.
Increasing a number by a percentage
To add a percentage to a number, multiply by one plus the percentage as a decimal. Increasing ₹1,200 by 18% gives ₹1,200 × 1.18 = ₹1,416. To reverse it and find the original from the increased value, divide instead: ₹1,416 ÷ 1.18 = ₹1,200. Simply subtracting 18% of ₹1,416 would give the wrong answer.
Percentage increase or percentage points?
When the values are themselves percentages, the wording matters. If a loan rate goes from 8% to 10%, it has risen by 2 percentage points, but by 25% in relative terms. News reports and offer letters sometimes mix these up.
Use percentage difference instead of percentage increase when neither value is the obvious starting point, such as comparing prices at two shops.
Frequently asked questions
Why is a 50% drop followed by a 50% rise not back to the start?
Because the rise is measured on the smaller value: 100 → 50 → 75.
Can a percentage increase be more than 100%?
Yes. Any value that more than doubles has increased by more than 100%. Going from 50 to 150 is a 200% increase.
How do I calculate the increase if the original value is zero?
It cannot be expressed as a percentage, because dividing by zero is undefined. Report the absolute change instead.
Related tools
Enable JavaScript to use this calculator.