Percentage Point Calculator
Use our percentage point calculator to find the percentage point difference between two percentages. Includes calculating percentage points, percentage point increase, percentage point difference, what is one percentage point, and how percentage point vs percent change works (with Excel formulas).
What is a Percentage Point?
A percentage point is the simple difference between two percentages. For example, going from 10% to 12% is an increase of 2 percentage points.
If you’re asking what is one percentage point, it’s exactly 1% of the full scale (0% to 100%) when you’re comparing two percentage values. It’s not the same as “1 percent increase.”
This percentage point calculator helps with calculating percentage points for things like interest rates, conversion rates, approval ratings, or any situation where you need a percentage point difference or percentage point increase.
Percentage Point Difference Formula
Percentage points are calculated by subtracting the old percentage from the new percentage.
The result is measured in percentage points, not percent.
This is percentage point vs percent change: points are a direct subtraction; percent change is relative to the old value.
This is a 5 percentage points increase (often written as “+5 pp”).
A 2-point increase equals a 20% relative increase from the original 10%.
How to Use the Percentage Point Calculator
- 1
Enter the old percentage (starting value).
- 2
Enter the new percentage (ending value).
- 3
The calculator subtracts old from new to get the percentage point difference.
- 4
If needed, compare against percent change to understand percentage point vs percent change.
Frequently Asked Questions
Subtract the old percentage from the new percentage. The result is the number of percentage points.
One percentage point means a difference of exactly 1% between two percentage values (for example, 5% to 6% is +1 percentage point).
One point equals 1 percentage point (a direct 1% difference). It’s not the same as a 1% relative increase.
It’s the direct subtraction: New% − Old%.
It’s the increase measured in points. Example: 20% to 27% is a 7 percentage points increase.
Percentage points are an absolute difference between percentages. Percent change measures the relative change compared to the original percentage.
If A1 is Old% and B1 is New%, use =B1-A1. Format the result as a percentage and interpret it as percentage points.
It means the new percentage is 5 points higher (or lower) than the old one. Example: 10% to 15% is +5 percentage points.