Hyperinflation facts for kids

5 Million Mark coin Would have been worth $714.29 in Jan 1923, about 1 thousandth of one cent by Oct 1923.

In economics, hyperinflation is inflation that is "out of control," when prices increase very fast as money loses its value.

One example of hyperinflation is in Germany in the 1920s. In 1922, the largest bank note was 50,000 Mark, In 1923 the largest bank note was 100,000,000,000,000 Mark. In December of 1923 the exchange rate was 4,200,000,000,000 Marks to 1 US dollar. These bank notes were so worthless that people would burn them in fires to keep them warm. The notes would burn longer than the amount of wood you could buy with them. Sometimes the rate of inflation was so high that prices doubled every two days. The Rentenmark was introduced to stop this problem. The exchange rate was set at 4.2 Rentenmarks to 1 US Dollar.

In Zimbabwe, the inflation rate was 231,150,888.87% in July 2008.

Images for kids

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  100 quintillion (1020) pengő, the largest denomination bill ever issued, Hungary, 1946. 1 sextillion pengő notes were printed, but never issued.

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  Hyperinflation in Venezuela represented by the time it would take for money to lose 90% of its value (301-day rolling average, inverted logarithmic scale).

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  Hyperinflation in Argentina

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  The price of gold in Germany, 1 January 1918 – 30 November 1923. (The vertical scale is logarithmic).

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  Germany, 1923: banknotes had lost so much value that they were used as wallpaper.

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  The 100 million b.-pengő note was the highest denomination of banknote ever issued, worth 1020 or 100 quintillion Hungarian pengő (1946). B.-pengő was short for "billió pengő", i.e. 1012 pengő.

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  Banana banknotes issued by the Japanese Government during the occupation of Malaya. The term "banana notes" originates from the motifs of banana trees on the currency's 10-dollar banknote.

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  The value of one US dollar in Venezuelan bolivares on the black market through time, according to DolarToday.com. Blue and red vertical lines represent every time the currency has lost 99% of its value. This has happened almost five times since 2012, meaning that the currency is worth, as of November 2020, almost 1 billion times less than in August 2012.

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  A 500 billion Yugoslav dinar banknote circa 1993, the largest nominal value ever officially printed in Yugoslavia, the final result of hyperinflation.

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  The 100 trillion Zimbabwean dollar banknote (1014 dollars), equal to 1027 (1 octillion) pre-2006 dollars.

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  Selection of 16 original un-circulated Zimbabwe notes ranging in denomination from 1 dollar to 100 trillion dollars. They are all signed by Gideon Gono, the Governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, in the period 2007 to 2008, who promises "to pay the bearer on demand".

See also

In Spanish: Hiperinflación para niños