Ever noticed that your favorite snack shrank from $5 to $4.25? Or maybe your phone battery dropped from 100% to 80% way too fast? If you’ve ever asked, “How much did that go down?” — you’re talking about a percentage decrease!
Let’s dive in and make it super simple to figure out — no math anxiety required.
Table of Contents
🙋 What Is a Percentage Decrease?
A percentage decrease tells you how much something has dropped compared to its original value — expressed as a percentage.
It’s great for:
- Tracking price drops
- Measuring weight loss (go you!)
- Watching your battery drain (ugh)
- Understanding business or finance changes
📝 The Easy Formula
Here’s the basic formula to calculate percentage decrease:
Percentage Decrease = [(Original Value - New Value) ÷ Original Value] × 100
That’s it! Let’s break it down with a real example.
🛍️ Example: Price Drop
Your favorite sneakers went from $80 to $60.
- Subtract the new price from the original:
80 - 60 = 20 - Divide the decrease by the original price:
20 ÷ 80 = 0.25 - Multiply by 100 to get the percentage:
0.25 × 100 = 25%
So, the price decreased by 25%! You just scored a solid deal. 🎉
💡 Step-by-Step (Quick Recap)
- Find the difference: Original – New
- Divide by the original value
- Multiply by 100
- That’s your percentage decrease!
📦 More Real-Life Examples
📉 Lost Followers
Your TikTok followers dropped from 2,000 to 1,800.
- Decrease = 200
200 ÷ 2000 × 100 = 10%
You lost 10%. (But don’t worry, they’ll be back!)
🏃♀️ Weight Loss
You went from 170 lbs to 155 lbs.
- Decrease = 15 lbs
15 ÷ 170 × 100 = ~8.82%
Nice! That’s nearly 9% progress.
🔋 Battery Drop
Phone battery went from 90% to 45%.
- Decrease = 45%
45 ÷ 90 × 100 = 50%
Half your battery = gone. Plug in now!
🤯 Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Don’t divide by the new value — always divide by the original.
- Make sure you’re calculating decrease, not increase (that’s a different formula).
- Double-check your subtraction — it’s easy to mix up!
🧮 Percentage Decrease Calculator
To make things a little easier, we’ve created a calculator tool.
Enter the Original Value and the New Value and the tool will calculate the percentage decrease
🧠 Final Thoughts
Percentage decrease is one of those math skills that pops up in everyday life — from shopping to budgeting, fitness tracking to analyzing business trends.
And now you’ve got the formula to handle it like a pro:
[(Original – New) ÷ Original] × 100 = % Decrease
Whether you’re saving money or dropping numbers on the scale, percentage decrease helps you see how far you’ve come — in a way that actually makes sense.