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Calculate percentage points vs relative percentage change. Understand the critical difference between these two measurements.
Percentage Points: Simple subtraction (10% to 15% = 5 pp)
Relative Change: Percentage of the percentage (10% to 15% = 50% increase)
Enter both percentages to calculate
A percentage point is the arithmetic difference between two percentages. It's simply subtraction.
Example: An interest rate goes from 3% to 5%. That's a 2 percentage point increase.
This measures the change as a percentage of the original value.
Example: Same interest rate 3% to 5%. That's ((5-3)/3) × 100 = 66.67% increase.
These are DIFFERENT measurements and should NOT be confused:
| From | To | Percentage Points | Relative Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10% | 15% | +5 pp | +50.00% |
| 20% | 25% | +5 pp | +25.00% |
| 50% | 55% | +5 pp | +10.00% |
| 5% | 10% | +5 pp | +100.00% |
| 3% | 5% | +2 pp | +66.67% |
| 30% | 40% | +10 pp | +33.33% |
| 15% | 10% | -5 pp | -33.33% |
| 50% | 25% | -25 pp | -50.00% |
Percentage points measure absolute difference between percentages (simple subtraction). Percent change measures relative change (percentage of the original). If unemployment goes from 5% to 7%, that's 2 percentage points but a 40% increase.
Use percentage points when comparing rates, percentages, or proportions directly. Common in: interest rates, unemployment rates, election polling, tax rates, and any situation where you're comparing two percentage values.
Mixing them up can be misleading. "Interest rates rose 50%" sounds dramatic, but if rates went from 2% to 3%, that's only 1 percentage point. Similarly, "unemployment fell 1 percentage point" from 4% to 3% is actually a 25% decrease.
Simply subtract: New Percentage - Old Percentage = Percentage Points. If a tax goes from 5% to 7%, that's 7 - 5 = 2 percentage points. No multiplication or division needed.
Yes! If a percentage decreases, you have negative percentage points. For example, if a discount goes from 20% to 15%, that's -5 percentage points (a reduction of 5 percentage points).
If a candidate's poll numbers go from 40% to 45%: "Support increased by 5 percentage points (from 40% to 45%), representing a 12.5% increase in support." Both statements are correct but measure different things.
Yes! Percentage points work for any percentages. If something grows from 100% to 150%, that's 50 percentage points and also a 50% increase. The math works the same way.
They often choose the bigger-sounding number. A 1 percentage point decrease from 2% to 1% might be reported as "50% decrease" (technically true but misleading). Always ask: are they talking about percentage points or percent change?