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The 10 Countries With the Highest Inflation in the World |
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The IMF’s April outlook put world inflation at 4.4% for 2026. Venezuela’s projection is 387.4%, more than five times the next country on the list. Iran is climbing fast. Argentina, at 219.9% in 2024, has dropped to fourth. The IMF’s next outlook lands on Tuesday. |
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Source: IMF World Economic Outlook, April 2026 (released April 14, 2026). Average consumer-price inflation, projected for 2026. |
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The window shuts September 30th.
| What's Surprising |
Venezuela’s prices are projected to rise 387.4% this year. Last year the figure was 252%. At this year’s pace, prices double about every five months. The IMF also expects the economy to grow 4.0%. Runaway prices and a growing economy, in the same country, in the same year. The IMF’s forecast for 2027 is 94.4%, about a quarter of this year’s rate.
Iran is moving the other way. Its inflation was 32.5% in 2024 and 50.9% in 2025. The IMF has it at 68.9% for 2026, more than double the 2024 rate. Of the top three, Sudan is the only one where the IMF expects inflation to fall this year, from 100.2% to 75.1%.
Bolivia is the quiet entry. Inflation there was 5.1% in 2024. The IMF projects 20.7% for 2026, four times the 2024 rate. Bolivia is not at war. It ran short of the dollars it needs to import fuel, and prices followed.
| What's Not Surprising |
War runs through this chart. Sudan has been fighting a civil war since April 2023. Yemen and Myanmar are in long internal conflicts. Gangs control much of Haiti’s capital. Iran is at the centre of the war with the US and Israel that shaped the IMF’s April outlook. When a government can’t collect taxes or borrow, it prints money. Prices follow.
Argentina is the turnaround. Inflation was 219.9% in 2024 and 41.9% in 2025. The IMF sees 30.4% this year. Türkiye is on the same road, from 58.5% in 2024 to 28.6% now. Both still sit in the top five. Bringing prices down from these levels takes years, not months.
Meanwhile, the rich world. USA: 3.2%. Germany: 2.7%. Japan: 2.2%. The highest advanced economy on the IMF’s list is Iceland, at 4.8%. China sits at 1.2%. Costa Rica is the only country where prices are projected to fall, by 0.4%.
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387.4% Venezuela’s projected inflation for 2026. That is 88 times the world rate of 4.4%, and up from 252% last year. |
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5 months How long Venezuelan prices take to double at 387.4% a year. At America’s 3.2%, the same doubling takes about 22 years. |
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219.9% Argentina’s inflation in 2024. The IMF projects 30.4% for 2026. Prices still rise fast. They no longer run away. |
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16 months How long Iranian prices take to double at 68.9%. At 2024’s rate of 32.5%, it took about two and a half years. |
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−0.4% Costa Rica’s projected inflation for 2026. It is the only country in the IMF’s outlook where prices are expected to fall. |
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The IMF publishes its October World Economic Outlook on Tuesday, October 13, the day after this issue. Every figure on this chart gets replaced. Its July update already raised the 2026 world inflation forecast from 4.4% to 4.7%, on higher energy and food prices. Two things to track. First, whether Iran’s projection crosses 70%. Second, whether Venezuela’s 2027 forecast of 94.4% holds. If energy prices stay high, expect most of this chart to be revised up. We’ll be watching. |
