List of Worst Hyperinflation Countries in History

Some countries have gone through this crisis especially during World War 2 when chaos happens across the globe and most businesses have taken a hit. The simplest definition of inflation is basically the increase in the price of goods and services.

This is a common phenomenon whereby demand increases but supply is rather low or limited. We can just imagine during the world war when the price simply will increase the moment you get to the counter after a long queue.

It could increase by 20% and then 30% and then go back down by 20%. Hyperinflation occurs when the inflation of a country exceeds 50% in a month. Let's say you decided to buy a chicken that costs $10 and due to inflation that price has gone up to $15(50% increase).

Here are some countries with the worst case of hyperinflation in history:

5. Greece, 1944

It all happened during World War II in 1944. It was so bad that the country's inflation rate was 18% per day. Even the rich will be heavily affected by this knowing that their money will lose its value every 5 to 6 days.

Just imagine if today you can buy Louis Vuitton bags but later on, you can only use the same amount of money to buy Kate Spade bags instead.

This did not just happen in Greece but in many other countries across Europe. That's why war is probably the last thing that you should wish for since it has many devastating effects apart from just deaths.

To make matters worse the involvement of the axis powers resulted in Greece being forced to support 400,000 invading soldiers. Greece's economies start to plummet down hard causing their government to lose its source of income.

Paper money was printed aggressively and in November 1944, the inflation rate reached 13,800%.

Greece manages to get a grip and successfully got out of inflation by doing a lot of reshuffling and managing the country's budget accordingly. They also introduced a new type of currency.

4. The Weimar Republic, 1923

Some of you might have not heard of this country, Right?! This is because this republic no longer exists after 1933. The only thing that's left is a city in Germany called Weimar.

The economic states in Weimar have become very critical due to certain factors in which some of which include being forced to pay for repairs by the United Nations, an economic sanction from France, and Belgium, as well as money, being printed without control.

The country was unable to use its own currency to pay for the repairs since the currency was worthless. The country was forced to sell its own currency to buy other currency which has caused its own money to go down even more.

At the peak of this inflation, the price for many goods increased by 21% in a day and as high as 29500% in a month. The price starts to go back to normal as the country introduced a new type of currency and the Germans agreed to negotiate a plan of paying back its debts.

3. Yugoslavia, 1994

Yugoslavia is another country that no longer existed ever since it was split into many different countries like Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia, Slovenia, Montenegro, Herzegovina, and Macedonia.

There were several reasons why the split happens in which some of them are the fall of the Soviet Union, unstable politics as well as racial conflicts that caused a civil war that went on for a long time.

Due to many conflicts happening, the government decided to print out the money in order to cover the expenses that have been piling up. However, since the spending was not controlled, inefficient, and not to mention the level of corruption that took place, it has caused the country's economy to become much worse.

On top of that, the United Nations have also sanctioned the country's economy making it harder for the country to get back up.

It can be said that each day the price of goods has increased by 65% causing the goods to more than double every day. The worst inflation to be recorded was a staggering 313,000,000%.

But, this figure is still not considered the highest in history.

2. Zimbabwe, 2008

In second place is a country situated in Africa which occurred in 2008. This is a country where the price of goods increases by one-fold each day since the inflation rate reached 98% daily.

The government took drastic action in which to reshuffle all the real estate ownership as well as seizing most lands owned by the Whites that lived in Zimbabwe. This has a direct effect on the agricultural sector as well as the economy itself.
The president at that time, Mugabe turn everything downhill by printing out more money to pay back the country's debts to the International Monetary Fund(IMF). worker's salary as well as funding the war in Congo.

The hyperinflation that reached an all-time high of 79,000,000,000% in November 2008 finally ceased when the Zimbabwe dollars were no longer in use and instead was replaced by the US dollar and South African Rand.

1. Hungary,1946

The country that takes the throne of the worst hyperinflation in history will be Hungary.

It can be expected that this also occurs during World War II similar to Greece. The hardship of the war forced Hungary to make an abundance of loans in order to aid its allies Germany. However, due to Germany losing the war, the debt was not able to be paid back to Hungary.

Not just that, but Hungary was also required to pay back for the damages to the Soviet Union. The government was so desperate at the time and they started printing out lots of money without thinking of the impact on the country's economy.

Supply for the infrastructural repair in their country was also scarce and this has led to what's called a 'supply shock'. Due to limited supply, the price of raw materials has gone through the roof.

At that moment in time, the worst hyperinflation rate was recorded and it was as high as 13,600,000,000,000%. You can just imagine that price of goods increases by one-fold every 16 hours.

The government decided to make the move by stabilizing the country's currency by reorganizing the tax system, using up its gold reserves, and introducing a new type of currency backed up by gold.

What do you think of these countries? Have you ever experienced something similar to this?

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