New CFR Interactive Highlights Global Inflation Trends

A new online economics tracker from the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) uses interactive color-coded maps and charts to reveal patterns in prices across the globe over time. The Global Inflation Tracker covers nearly two hundred countries, going back to 1990.

“This interactive tool is an indispensable aid for studying the trends of inflation—including their components, such as energy and services—across countries and regions, going back a quarter century,” said CFR Senior Fellow and Director of International Economics Benn Steil, who created the tracker with Analyst Elisabeth Harding.

The tracker illuminates how inflation reacted to the global disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. With many businesses shuttered, consumers spent less and saved more. Median global inflation fell from 2.2 percent to 1.9 percent that year. In 2021 and 2022, however, consumer demand recovered far more rapidly than supply, which was limited by labor shortages, supply-chain interruptions, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Between the third quarters of 2020 and 2022, median global inflation soared from 2 percent to 9 percent.

The interactive also highlights how the different components of total inflation can change significantly over time. In 2021, for example, energy inflation constituted almost a third of the total U.S. inflation rate of 4.7 percent. In contrast, falling energy prices in 2015 made a substantial negative contribution to that year’s total U.S. inflation rate of 0.1 percent.

Explore the tracker at cfr.org/tracker/global-inflation-tracker.

Please also check out trackers for Global Monetary Policy, Central Bank Currency Swaps, Global Imbalances, Global Growth, Global Trade, Global Energy, and Sovereign Risk.

To request an interview with the author, please contact the Global Communications and Media Relations team at [email protected].