Find X% of a number, what percent one number is of another, or the percentage change between two numbers.
X% of Y = (X/100) × Y.
X is what % of Y = (X/Y) × 100.
% change = ((Y-X)/X) × 100.
A percentage point is the plain arithmetic difference between two percentages, while a percentage change describes the relative size of that shift — and confusing the two is one of the most common, consequential errors in how numbers get reported and understood. Moving from 40% to 44% is a 4 percentage point increase, but it's also a 10% relative increase in whatever was being measured (4 ÷ 40 = 10%) — both descriptions are accurate, but they describe genuinely different things, and using the wrong one can make an identical real-world change sound dramatically smaller or larger than it is.
This distinction has real teeth in finance and economics specifically: when a central bank raises interest rates "by 0.25%," what's usually meant is 0.25 percentage points — a rate moving from 5% to 5.25% — not a 0.25% relative increase (which would only take the rate to about 5.0125%), and those two numbers differ by roughly 20x. The same gap shows up constantly in everyday reporting: unemployment rising from 4% to 6% is both "a 2 percentage point increase" and "a 50% relative increase" — the second framing sounds far more dramatic, and whichever one gets used (often chosen for effect rather than clarity) genuinely changes how significant the change appears, even though the underlying numbers haven't changed at all.
A percentage point is the simple arithmetic difference between two percentages (44% minus 40% = 4 percentage points). A percentage change describes that same shift relative to the starting value (4 ÷ 40 = 10% relative increase). Both are accurate ways to describe the same change, but they represent very different numbers.
Because a rate change described as '0.25%' almost always means 0.25 percentage points in practice (e.g., a rate moving from 5% to 5.25%), not a 0.25% relative increase (which would only move the rate to about 5.0125%) — a difference of roughly 20 times. Mixing these up when reading financial news can lead to a significant misunderstanding of how large a rate change actually is.
Unemployment rising from 4% to 6% is accurately described as either 'a 2 percentage point increase' (sounds modest) or 'a 50% relative increase' (sounds dramatic) — both describe the identical actual change. Which framing gets used can significantly affect how significant the change appears to a reader, even though nothing about the underlying numbers differs.
Percentage of a number = (Percentage ÷ 100) × Number. For example, 25% of 200 = (25 ÷ 100) × 200 = 50. For percentage change between two values: (New Value − Old Value) ÷ Old Value × 100.