Nominal and real over the long run
Nominal means counted in the euros of the time. Real means adjusted for rising prices.
Only the real figure tells you what the money buys.
A figure that has grown says little until you divide it by what prices did over the same years.
Gold in euros rose from 1949 to 2025 to 52.4 times its price in nominal terms and to 8.47 times in real terms.
Annual averages, adjusted with German consumer prices.
Questions people ask
Why can an amount that has grown still buy less?
Because prices may have risen faster than the amount. Nominal is the amount as it stands, real is the same amount measured by what it can buy.
How do you turn a return into a real return?
You divide instead of subtracting: the growth factor of the money divided by the growth factor of prices. The rate per year then follows from that as usual.
Has gold kept up with inflation?
In euros over the long series of the Atlas, clearly, and in real terms a multiple remained. Over shorter spans it looks very different depending on the start, because the gold price swings strongly.
Source: World Bank, Commodity Price Data (The Pink Sheet), Gold, ab 1960, und U.S. Geological Survey, Data Series 140 (Gold), 1900 bis 1959, umgerechnet mit Devisenkursen der Deutschen Bundesbank (BBEX3.A.USD.DEM.AA.AC.A04) und Euro-Referenzkursen der EZB (EXR.A.USD.EUR.SP00.A), as of 2025, retrieved 2026-11-09 · Deutsche Bundesbank, Zeitreihe BBDP1.A.DE.N.VPI.C.A00000.I20.L, as of 2025, retrieved 2026-11-09 · Aswath Damodaran, NYU Stern, histretSP, as of 2025, retrieved 2026-11-09 · U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, CPI-U (CUUR0000SA0), as of 2025, retrieved 2026-11-09
Gold in euros against German consumer prices, nominal and real.
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