Percentage Increase vs Decrease: Formula and Examples

Percentage change tells you how much a value went up or down relative to the original value.

Quick formulas

Percentage increase

Use this when the new value is higher than the original.

Percentage increase = ((new - original) / original) * 100%

Percentage decrease

Use this when the new value is lower than the original.

Percentage decrease = ((original - new) / original) * 100%

Step by step examples

Example 1: increase

Original: 50 New: 65

Change = 65 - 50 = 15 Increase percent = (15 / 50) * 100% = 30%

Example 2: decrease

Original: 80 New: 60

Change = 80 - 60 = 20 Decrease percent = (20 / 80) * 100% = 25%

Increase vs decrease: how to choose

• If new > original, compute increase.
• If new < original, compute decrease.
• If original = 0, a percent change is not defined. Use a different comparison.

Common mistakes

• Using the new value as the denominator. For percent change, the denominator is the original value.
• Mixing up direction. A decrease formula must return a positive percent for a drop.

Use a calculator

If you want to calculate faster, use our percentage calculator and enter the original and new values.