Inflation Calculator Seoul

Inflation Calculator for Seoul

Prices paid by households in Seoul follow the national consumer price index for South Korea, because official inflation is measured country-wide rather than city by city. In the latest month available, September 2026, annual consumer price inflation was 2.88% according to the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) series compiled from the national statistics office.

Facts that change the answer

• Latest annual inflation: 2.88% (September 2026)
• National CPI change, calendar years 2000 to 2025: prices up 84.6% in total (index 73.1 to 135.0)
• Ten years, 2015 to 2025: prices up 22.9%, so KRW 100 of 2025 buys what about KRW 81.4 bought in 2015
• Highest calendar-year inflation since 2001: 5.1% in 2022; lowest: 0.4% in 2019
• Bank of Korea policy rate: 3% (September 2026), which is above the latest national inflation rate of 2.88%
• Year by year: 2016 1.0%, 2017 1.9%, 2018 1.5%, 2019 0.4%, 2020 0.5%, 2021 2.5%, 2022 5.1%, 2023 3.6%, 2024 2.3%, 2025 2.1%
• Earlier years: 2001 4.1%, 2002 2.8%, 2003 3.5%, 2004 3.6%, 2005 2.8%, 2006 2.2%, 2007 2.5%, 2008 4.7%, 2009 2.8%, 2010 2.9%, 2011 4.0%, 2012 2.2%, 2013 1.3%, 2014 1.3%, 2015 0.7%
• Last 12 monthly readings: Oct 25 2.4%, Nov 25 2.4%, Dec 25 2.3%, Jan 26 2.0%, Feb 26 2.0%, Mar 26 2.2%, Apr 26 2.6%, May 26 3.1%, Jun 26 3.2%, Jul 26 2.8%, Aug 26 3.1%, Sep 26 2.9%

Worked example for Seoul

Enter KRW 1,000,000 as today's cost, 2.88% as the inflation rate and 10 years. If prices in Seoul kept rising at that pace, the same basket would cost KRW 1,328,341 in 2036, and KRW 1,000,000 left in cash would buy only what KRW 752,819 buys now. The figure of KRW 1,000,000 is just an example amount in South Korean won; type your own rent, school fee or grocery bill instead.

The average of the ten calendar-year rates from 2016 to 2025 for South Korea works out at 2.1%. Try that figure as well as the latest 2.88% reading: the gap between the two shows how sensitive a long-range plan in Seoul is to which rate you pick. For a 20-year horizon the difference between 2.1% and 2.88% changes the future cost of KRW 1,000,000 from KRW 1,513,644 to KRW 1,764,490.

Sources: BIS consumer price statistics · BIS central bank policy rates. Checked 5 November 2026. For how the maths works, see the Inflation Calculator guide.