For an explanation and everyday examples of using percentages generally see our page Percentages: An Introduction. For more general percentage calculations see our page Percentage Calculators.

To calculate the percentage increase:

First: work out the difference (increase) between the two numbers you are comparing.

Increase = New Number - Original Number

Then:  divide the increase by the original number and multiply the answer by 100.

% increase = Increase ÷ Original Number × 100.

If your answer is a negative number, then this is a percentage decrease.

To calculate percentage decrease:

First: work out the difference (decrease) between the two numbers you are comparing.

Decrease = Original Number - New Number

Then: divide the decrease by the original number and multiply the answer by 100.

% Decrease = Decrease ÷ Original Number × 100

If your answer is a negative number, then this is a percentage increase.

If you wish to calculate the percentage increase or decrease of several numbers then we recommend using the first formula. Positive values indicate a percentage increase whereas negative values indicate percentage decrease.

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Examples - Percentage Increase and Decrease

In January Dylan worked a total of 35 hours, in February he worked 45.5 hours – by what percentage did Dylan’s working hours increase in February?

To tackle this problem first we calculate the difference in hours between the new and old numbers.  45.5 - 35 hours = 10.5 hours.  We can see that Dylan worked 10.5 hours more in February than he did in January – this is his increase.  To work out the increase as a percentage it is now necessary to divide the increase by the original (January) number:

10.5 ÷ 35 = 0.3  (See our division page for instruction and examples of division.)

Finally, to get the percentage we multiply the answer by 100.  This simply means moving the decimal place two columns to the right.

0.3 × 100 = 30

Dylan therefore worked 30% more hours in February than he did in January.

In March Dylan worked 35 hours again – the same as he did in January (or 100% of his January hours).  What is the percentage difference between Dylan’s February hours (45.5) and his March hours (35)? 

First calculate the decrease in hours, that is: 45.5 - 35 = 10.5

Then divide the decrease by the original number (February hours) so:

10.5 ÷ 45.5 = 0.23 (to two decimal places).

Finally multiply 0.23 by 100 to give 23%. Dylan’s hours were 23% lower in March than in February.

Sometimes it is easier to show percentage decrease as a negative number – to do this follow the formula above to calculate percentage increase – your answer will be a negative number if there was a decrease.  In Dylan’s case the increase in hours between February and March is -10.5 (negative because it is a decrease). Therefore   -10.5 ÷ 45.5 = -0.23.  -0.23 × 100 = -23%.

Dylan's hours could be displayed in a data table as:

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Calculating Values Based on Percentage Change

Sometimes it is useful to be able to calculate actual values based on the percentage increase or decrease.  It is common to see examples of when this could be useful in the media.

You may see headlines like:

UK rainfall was 23% above average this summer.
Unemployment figures show a 2% decline.
Bankers’ bonuses slashed by 45%.

These headlines give an idea of a trend – where something is increasing or decreasing, but often no actual data.

In order to work out how much something has increased or decreased in real terms we need some actual data.

Take the example of “UK rainfall this summer was 23% above average” – we can tell immediately that the UK experienced almost a quarter (25%) more rainfall than average over the summer. However, without knowing either what the average rainfall is or how much rain fell over the period in question we cannot work out how much rain actually fell.

Calculating the actual rainfall for the period if the average rainfall is known.

If we know the average rainfall is 250mm, we can work out the rainfall for the period by calculating 250 + 23%.

First work out 1% of 250, 250 ÷ 100 = 2.5. Then multiply the answer by 23, because there was a 23% increase in rainfall.

2.5 × 23 = 57.5.

Total rainfall for the period in question was therefore 250 + 57.5 = 307.5mm.

Calculating the average rainfall if the actual amount is known.

If the news report states the new measurement and a percentage increase, “UK rainfall was 23% above average... 320mm of rain fell…”.

In this example we know the total rainfall was 320mm. We also know that this is 23% above the average.  In other words, 320mm equates to 123% (or 1.23 times) of the average rainfall. To calculate the average we divide the total (320) by 1.23.

320 ÷ 1.23 = 260.1626.  Rounded to one decimal place, the average rainfall is 260.2mm.

The difference between the average and the actual rainfall can now be calculated:
320 - 260.2 = 59.8mm.

We can conclude that 59.8mm is 23% of the average rainfall amount (260.2mm), and that in real terms, 59.8mm more rain fell than average.

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