How to Find Out Increase Percentage

April 24, 2025 5 min read

Understanding how to calculate the increase percentage is a valuable skill in many everyday situations. Whether you're tracking the growth of your investments, analyzing sales figures, or just trying to understand how much prices have gone up, knowing how to determine the increase percentage can give you valuable insights.

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The increase percentage helps quantify the relative change between two numbers, making it easy to compare different growth scenarios. This guide will provide you with the tools and knowledge you need to confidently calculate increase percentages in any situation.

Understanding the Increase Percentage Formula

The formula for calculating increase percentage is straightforward:

Increase Percentage = [(New Value - Original Value) / Original Value] * 100

Let's break down each component:

  • New Value: The value you are comparing to the original value.
  • Original Value: The starting value.
  • Increase: the different between the New Value and the Original Value.

The result is multiplied by 100 to express the increase as a percentage.

Steps to Calculate Increase Percentage

  1. Determine the Original Value and the New Value: Identify the two values you want to compare. For example, let's say a product's price increased from $80 to $100. The original value is $80, and the new value is $100.
  2. Calculate the Difference: Subtract the original value from the new value. In our example, $100 - $80 = $20. This represents the amount of the increase.
  3. Divide by the Original Value: Divide the difference ($20) by the original value ($80). So, $20 / $80 = 0.25.
  4. Multiply by 100: Multiply the result by 100 to express it as a percentage. 0.25 * 100 = 25%.

Therefore, the price of the product increased by 25%.

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Real-World Examples

  • Tracking Investment Growth: If your investment portfolio increased from $5,000 to $6,000, the increase percentage is [($6,000 - $5,000) / $5,000] * 100 = 20%.
  • Analyzing Sales Performance: If your company's sales increased from 1000 units to 1200 units, the increase percentage is [ (1200-1000)/1000 ] * 100 = 20%.
  • Calculating Salary Increase: If your salary increased from $60,000 to $66,000, the increase percentage is [($66,000 - $60,000) / $60,000] * 100 = 10%.

Understanding Percentage Increase vs. Percentage Point Increase

It's crucial to differentiate between percentage increase and percentage point increase. A percentage increase reflects the relative change in a quantity, as we've discussed above. A percentage point increase, on the other hand, refers to the absolute difference between two percentages.

For example, if an interest rate increases from 5% to 7%, that's a 2 percentage point increase. To calculate the percentage increase, you'd use the formula [ (7-5) / 5 ] * 100 = 40%. This illustrates that while the absolute change is 2 percentage points, the relative change or percentage increase is actually 40%.

Why is Understanding Increase Percentage Important?

  • Financial Planning: Helps in assessing investment returns, inflation, and budget changes.
  • Business Analysis: Allows tracking sales growth, cost changes, and market trends.
  • Academic Performance: Useful in evaluating improvements in grades or test scores.
  • Everyday Life: Helps in understanding price changes, discounts, and savings.

Tips and Considerations

  • Accuracy: Double-check your values to ensure accurate calculations.
  • Context: Always interpret the increase percentage within the appropriate context. A high percentage increase may not always be significant if the original value was very low.
  • Negative Values: If the new value is lower than the original value, the result will be a negative percentage, indicating a decrease.

Calculating Percentage Decrease

While this article focuses on percentage increase, you can easily find the percentage decrease using a similar formula:

Decrease Percentage = [(Original Value - New Value) / Original Value] * 100

For more complex percentage calculations, explore our percentage calculators for various scenarios.

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