Percentage Decrease Calculator
Calculate the percentage decrease between two values with the absolute drop shown.
About Percentage Decrease Calculator
Percentage decrease measures how much a value has fallen relative to the original. Subtract the new value from the old, divide by the absolute value of the original, and multiply by 100.
Formula
Percentage Decrease
Percentage Decrease = ((Old − New) / |Old|) × 100
- Old
- The original (initial) value
- New
- The new (final) value
Worked example
With the default values below, Percentage Decrease Calculator returns Percentage Decrease of 20.0000%. Change any input above and every figure here is recalculated in your browser.
Inputs used
- Original Value
- 250
- New Value
- 200
Results
- Percentage Decrease
- 20.0000%
- Absolute Drop
- 50.0000
Step by step
- 1Find the absolute drop= 50
- 2Divide by the original value= 0.2
- 3Multiply by 100 to get percentage= 20.0000%
Assumptions and limits
- The result is derived only from the 2 inputs listed above. Anything not among them is not part of the calculation.
- In particular, this calculator does not take inflation, tax, fees or charges or compounding frequency into account.
- Figures are rounded for display to 4 decimal places, so totals built from several rounded parts can differ slightly from the unrounded arithmetic.
How these calculators are built and tested is described on the Methodology page. If a figure looks wrong, please report it.
Frequently Asked Questions
What if the new value is larger than the old?
You get a negative result, which means the value actually increased. Use the Percentage Increase calculator for that scenario.
Can a percentage decrease exceed 100%?
Not in the usual sense — a value can't decrease by more than 100% of itself without going negative. A result over 100% means the value changed sign.