The purchasing power of the euro and the French franc measures monetary erosion due to inflation.

The following table provides long time series (since 1908) for converting a past value expressed in French francs into prices for a given year (e.g. 2008).

The deflator used by the experts for each year is the annual average of the published general price index, which covers the broadest population aggregate. We take the index for all urban households whose head is a manual or non-manual employee through to 1992 and the index for all households in mainland France as of 1993, when it was first published. Starting in January 1999, the index used in the table covers all households in mainland France and the French overseas départements.

Users of these data should note that data robustness decreases as the time periods stretch into the past and that these data cannot be used as legally binding references.

The euro and French franc purchasing power indicator is suitable for measuring monetary erosion related to household consumption. However, it is not suitable for measuring the monetary erosion of assets made up of real estate and financial instruments not included in the general price index.

How to use the table

The table below is used to convert past French franc or euro values into current euros.

Example: you want to find the purchasing power in 2008 euros of 1,000 French francs received in 1998

Go to the 1998 line.
Go to the 2008 column, where you will find 0.18172.
Multiply the initial sum of FRF 1,000 French francs by 0.18172: the result is EUR 181.72.
In addition to inflation, the coefficient takes account of the transition from the French franc to the euro (EUR 1 = FRF 6.55957).
The purchasing power of FRF 1,000 in 1998 is hence equal to EUR 181.72 in 2008.