Percentage Increase Calculator
Find the exact percentage increase between two values - or work backwards from a known percentage.
📈 What is Percentage Increase?
Percentage increase measures how much a value has grown relative to its original amount, expressed as a percentage. It is the most common way to communicate growth - salary hikes, profit margins, population growth, stock returns, price changes, and exam score improvements are all conveyed as percentage increases. The key advantage of expressing growth as a percentage rather than an absolute number is comparability: a ₹5,000 increase means something very different on a ₹10,000 salary versus a ₹2,00,000 salary.
The calculation is straightforward: subtract the original from the new value, divide by the original, and multiply by 100. The result is always a positive number when the value has genuinely increased. A 25% increase means that for every ₹100 of original value, the increase is ₹25 - regardless of the actual scale. This relative framing is what makes percentage increase universally applicable across currencies, units, and magnitudes.
A common source of confusion is the direction of the denominator. Percentage increase is always calculated against the original value, not the new value and not the average of the two. This is why a 50% increase (from 100 to 150) followed by a 33.3% decrease (from 150 back to 100) nets to zero - the percentages use different bases. Another frequent mistake is conflating percentage increase with percentage points: if a bank's interest rate rises from 5% to 7%, that is a 2 percentage-point increase but a 40% increase in the rate itself.
This calculator handles all three variations of the percentage increase problem: finding the percentage when you know both values, finding the new value after applying a known percentage increase, and reverse-engineering the original value from a post-increase amount. All three are common real-world scenarios - the reverse calculation is especially useful when prices are already marked up and you want to know the pre-markup cost.
📐 Formula
📖 How to Use This Calculator
Steps to Calculate Percentage Increase
💡 Example Calculations
Example 1 — Salary Hike
Monthly salary rises from ₹45,000 to ₹54,000
Example 2 — Applying a Known Percentage Increase
A product costing ₹1,200 is marked up by 35%
Example 3 — Finding the Original Price
A product now costs ₹2,950 after a 18% price increase - what was the original price?
Example 4 — Population Growth
City population grows from 8,50,000 to 10,54,000 over 5 years
❓ Frequently Asked Questions
🔗 Related Calculators
What is the formula for calculating percentage increase?
Percentage Increase = ((New Value − Original Value) ÷ Original Value) × 100. Example: salary rises from ₹40,000 to ₹48,000: ((48,000 − 40,000) ÷ 40,000) × 100 = 20% increase.
How do I calculate percentage increase in Excel?
Use =(B1-A1)/A1*100 where A1 is the original value and B1 is the new value. Or use =(B1-A1)/A1 and format the cell as Percentage. Example: A1=400, B1=500 → result is 25%.
What is 20% increase on ₹5,000?
20% of ₹5,000 = ₹1,000. New value = ₹5,000 + ₹1,000 = ₹6,000. Shortcut: 5,000 × 1.20 = ₹6,000.
What is the difference between percentage increase and percentage change?
Percentage change can be positive (increase) or negative (decrease). Percentage increase specifically applies when a value goes up and is always a positive number. If the value falls, use the Percentage Decrease Calculator instead.
How do I find the original value if I know the new value and percentage increase?
Original Value = New Value ÷ (1 + Percentage Increase ÷ 100). Example: price after a 25% increase is ₹625 → original = 625 ÷ 1.25 = ₹500.
Can percentage increase exceed 100%?
Yes. A 100% increase means the value doubled. A 200% increase means it tripled. A 500% increase means it is 6× the original. Example: revenue growing from ₹10 lakh to ₹1 crore is a 900% increase.
How do compound percentage increases work?
If a value increases by 10% in year 1 and 10% in year 2, the total is not 20% but 21% (1.10 × 1.10 = 1.21). Each percentage is applied to the updated value, which is why compound growth is faster than simple growth.
What is 15% increase on 200?
15% of 200 = 30. New value = 200 + 30 = 230. Or directly: 200 x 1.15 = 230. The increase amount is 30, and the percentage increase from 200 to 230 is 15%.
How do I calculate percentage increase between two years of sales data?
Percentage increase = ((This Year − Last Year) ÷ Last Year) × 100. Example: last year ₹45 lakh, this year ₹54 lakh → ((54 − 45) ÷ 45) × 100 = 20% increase.
Is percentage increase the same as percentage point increase?
No. A percentage point is an absolute change in percentage terms. Interest rates rising from 4% to 6% is a 2 percentage-point increase but a 50% increase in the rate. This distinction matters in finance, economics, and medicine.