The past decade has seen the cost of regional and national newspapers roughly double.

In the past 12 months alone, the cost of UK national newspapers increased by 13%, according to Press Gazette.

And local newspapers have also followed suit with regular price hikes as production costs have soared. Both the Gloucester Citizen and the Gloucestershire Echo have recently increased their cover prices from £2.40 to £2.60.

Among the nationals, the Sun has increased its Monday to Friday price from 90p to £1, the same as the Daily Mail, while the Daily Telegraph has hiked its weekday cover price from £2.80 to £3, the same price at the Guardian.

It would now cost £144.80 to buy every copy of a Fleet Street newspaper in one week, compared to £129.85 one year ago.

The cover price on the newsstands of a daily newspaper grew by 15% on average between January 2023 and the start of January 2024, while Saturday and Sunday newspapers were each up by an average of 12%.

By comparison, official consumer price inflation in the UK was at 4% in the year to December 2023.

Subscription costs for paywall news websites in the UK rose by 20% over the last year, Press Gazette research has found. Publishers may be seeking more reader revenue to make up for plunging online advertising revenue.

Several publishers most recently put up their prices to help mitigate continually rising production costs at the start of the New Year.

The price increases also mitigate against falling circulation volumes as fewer copies are shifted on the newsstands. According to Press Gazette, the newspapers that still publicly report their circulation with ABC saw an average decline of 69% between November 2013 and November 2023 (the latest figures available).

On a weekday, it would cost £18.90 to buy every Fleet Street daily - The Times, Daily Telegraph, Guardian, the i, Financial Times, Daily Mail, Daily Express, Daily Mirror, The Sun and the Daily Star - from a newsagent, up 11% from £17 a year earlier. In 2014 the dailies (excluding The Independent which closed in 2016) together cost £9.20, meaning a rise in the past decade of 105%.

It would cost £26.60 to buy every Saturday edition of the national newspapers - The Times, The Guardian, The Telegraph, FT Weekend, i Weekend, Daily Mail, Daily Express, Daily Mirror, The Sun and the Daily Star - each week, up 12% from £23.75 last year. 

A decade ago the total price would be £13.05 (excluding The Independent), meaning the Saturdays have also doubled in price in ten years as a group.