The Consumer Price Index (CPI) measures the changes in price over time for a select bundle of consumer goods. Changes in CPI is how inflation is generally measured. The Statistics departments of many governments chart such information.

Below you’ll find the CPI year by year for the United States, Canada, and Australia from 1960 on. The data goes back even farther for those countries and you’ll find links after the table if you want to research the earlier dates. The Japanese data is only available from 1970 and the UK from 1988.  You’ll also find links to websites that list CPI for many other countries as well. The most accessible data is from Rateinflation.com which I used to create the table below.

Year United States Canada Australia Japan United Kingdom
CPI % Change CPI % Change CPI % Change CPI % Change CPI % Change
1960 29.6 1.50% 15.5 1.30% 7.7 4.1% n/a n/a n/a n/a
1961 29.9 1.10% 15.7 1.30% 7.8 1.3% n/a n/a n/a n/a
1962 30.3 1.20% 15.9 1.30% 7.8 0.0% n/a n/a n/a n/a
1963 30.6 1.20% 16.1 1.30% 7.9 1.3% n/a n/a n/a n/a
1964 31.0 1.30% 16.4 1.90% 8.1 2.5% n/a n/a n/a n/a
1965 31.5 1.60% 16.8 2.40% 8.4 3.7% n/a n/a n/a n/a
1966 32.5 3.00% 17.5 4.20% 8.6 2.4% n/a n/a n/a n/a
1967 33.4 2.80% 18.1 3.40% 8.9 3.5% n/a n/a n/a n/a
1968 34.8 4.30% 18.8 3.90% 9.2 3.4% n/a n/a n/a n/a
1969 36.7 5.50% 19.7 4.80% 9.5 3.3%  n/a  n/a  n/a  n/a
1970 38.8 5.80% 20.3 3.00% 9.8 3.2% 32.7 n/a n/a n/a
1971 40.5 4.30% 20.9 3.00% 10.4 6.1% 34.8 6.4% n/a n/a
1972 41.8 3.30% 21.9 4.80% 11 5.8% 36.4 4.6% n/a n/a
1973 44.4 6.20% 23.6 7.80% 12 9.1% 40.7 11.8% n/a n/a
1974 49.3 11.10% 26.2 11.00% 13.9 15.8% 50.1 23.1% n/a n/a
1975 53.8 9.10% 29 10.70% 16 15.1% 56 11.8% n/a n/a
1976 56.9 5.70% 31.1 7.20% 18.1 13.1% 61.3 9.5% n/a n/a
1977 60.6 6.50% 33.6 8.00% 20.3 12.2% 66.2 8.0% n/a n/a
1978 65.2 7.60% 36.6 8.90% 21.9 7.9% 69 4.2% n/a n/a
1979 72.6 11.30% 40 9.30% 23.9 9.1% 71.6 3.8%  n/a  n/a
1980 82.4 13.50% 44 10.00% 26.4 10.5% 77.2 7.8% n/a n/a
1981 90.9 10.30% 49.5 12.50% 28.9 9.5% 81 4.9% n/a n/a
1982 96.5 6.10% 54.9 10.90% 32.1 11.1% 83.2 2.7% n/a n/a
1983 99.6 3.20% 58.1 5.80% 35.4 10.3% 84.7 1.8% n/a n/a
1984 103.9 4.30% 60.6 4.30% 36.8 4.0% 86.7 2.4% n/a n/a
1985 107.6 3.50% 63 4.00% 39.2 6.5% 88.4 2.0%  n/a  n/a
1986 109.6 1.90% 65.6 4.10% 42.8 9.2% 89 0.7% n/a n/a
1987 113.6 3.70% 68.5 4.40% 46.4 8.4% 89.1 0.1%  n/a n/a
1988 118.3 4.10% 71.2 3.90% 49.8 7.3% 89.7 0.7% 49.6  n/a
1989 124.0 4.80% 74.8 5.10% 53.5 7.4% 91.7 2.2% 52.1 5.0%
1990 130.7 5.40% 78.4 4.80% 57.5 7.5% 94.5 3.1% 55.8 7.1%
1991 136.2 4.20% 82.8 5.60% 59.3 3.1% 97.6 3.3% 60.0 7.5%
1992 140.3 3.00% 84 1.40% 59.9 1.0% 99.3 1.7% 62.5 4.2%
1993 144.5 3.00% 85.6 1.00% 60.9 1.7% 100.5 1.2% 64.1 2.6%
1994 148.2 2.60% 85.7 0.10% 62.1 2.0% 101.2 0.7% 65.4 2.0%
1995 152.4 2.80% 87.6 2.20% 65 4.7% 101.1 -0.1% 67.1 2.6%
1996 156.9 2.90% 88.9 1.50% 66.7 2.6% 101.2 0.1% 68.8 2.5%
1997 160.5 2.30% 90.4 1.70% 66.9 0.3% 103 1.8% 70.0 1.7%
1998 163.0 1.60% 91.3 1.00% 67.4 0.7% 103.7 0.7% 71.1 1.6%
1999 166.6 2.20% 92.9 1.80% 68.4 1.5% 103.4 -0.3% 72.1 1.4%
2000 172.2 3.40% 95.4 2.70% 71.5 4.5% 102.7 -0.7% 72.6 0.7%
2001 177.1 2.80% 97.8 2.50% 74.6 4.3% 101.9 -0.8% 73.5 1.2%
2002 179.9 1.60% 100 2.20% 76.9 3.1% 101 -0.9% 74.5 1.4%
2003 184.0 2.30% 102.8 2.80% 79 2.7% 100.7 -0.3% 75.5 1.3%
2004 188.9 2.70% 104.7 1.80% 80.8 2.3% 100.7 0.0% 76.5 1.3%
2005 195.3 3.40% 107 2.20% 83 2.7% 100.4 -0.3% 78.1 2.1%
2006 201.6 3.20% 109.1 2.00% 85.9 3.5% 100.7 0.3% 79.9 2.3%
2007 207.3 2.90% 111.5 2.20% 87.9 2.3% 100.7 0.0% 81.7 2.3%
2008 215.3 3.80% 114.1 2.30% 91.8 4.4% 102.1 1.4% 84.7 3.7%
2009 214.5 -0.40% 114.4 0.30% 93.4 1.7% 100.7 -1.4% 86.5 2.1%
2010 218.1 1.60% 116.5 1.80% 96.1 2.9% 100 -0.7% 89.4 3.4%
2011 224.9 3.20% 119.9 2.90% 99.3 3.3% 99.7 -0.3% 93.4 4.5%
2012 229.6 2.10% 121.7 1.50% 101 1.7% 99.7 0.0% 96.0 2.8%
2013 233.0 1.50% 122.8 0.90% 103.5 2.5% 100 0.3% 98.5 2.6%
2014 236.7 1.59% 125.1 1.87% 106.0 2.4% 102.7 2.7% 99.9 1.4%
2015 237.0 0.13% 126.5 1.12% 107.6 1.5% 103.6 1.1% 100.0 0.1%

Sources: US Bureau of Labor StatisticsStatistics CanadaRate Inflation
More specifically: United StatesCanadaAustraliaJapanUnited Kingdom
Note: 
The UK data was recalibrated at the end of 2015 with the CPI at the end of 2015 set at 100

Links of Interest
  • global-rates.com – A website covering interest rates and economic statistics from many different countries. Available in seven different languages.
  • InflationData.com – An extensive resource on
    inflation in the United States. The website’s
  • International Page has links to official
    government statistics from around the world.
  • Inflation.eu – This site has inflation
    statistics from around the world (not just Europe
    despite its .eu url ending)
  • Measuring Worth – this is an interesting site on comparing relative values over time using a
    number of factors, not just CPI. Such as Labor Value, Historic Standard of Living, Historic
    Opportunity Cost and more. The link is to an essay explaining the various concepts they use. The site covers stats for the US and the UK.
  • OECD StatExtracts – The statistics website for the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and
    Development.
  • Rate Inflation – Here you’ll find CPI and inflation statistics from 13 different countries –
    Argentina, Australia, Canada, Germany, the Euro Zone, France, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Russia, Switzerland, United Kingdom and the United States.
  • Statistics Canada – StatsCan has statistics on many aspects of Canadian life including
    economics.
  • Trading Economics – A website covering a wide range of economic statistics including GDP,
    Unemployment, Debt/GDP and more for many different countries.
  • US Bureau of Labor Statistics – This bureau of the US Government has extensive economic statistics.
  • World Bank – possibly the most extensive international coverage of economic statistics on the Internet. The table linked to covers inflation from 2010-2014 for 213 different countries, though there are a few blank spots. But if you want to find out the inflation rate in such obscure countries as Azerbaijan, Bhutan, the Kyrgyz Republic and Vanuatu, this is the place!