Kosten des täglichen Bedarfs

Comparison of worldwide cost of living

Living ist most expensive in Switzerland and cheapest in India. In our ranking of 96 countries all around the world the USA comes 17th.

The cost of living are periodically calculated in nearly representative baskets of consumer goods. But many factors are complicating a worldwide comparison. E.g. a typical apartments dont have a standard size nor fittings. Even the quality of a branded packet of butter isn't the same in the Third World. Consequently, comparisons like this have to to be accepted with caution.

Zusätzlich sollte bei einen Kostenvergleich die Höhe des jeweils vorherrschenden eine Rolle spielen.Additionally, the average income of the single country should play a role in a cost comparison like this.

Cost of living and purchasing power related to average income

We ajusted the average cost of living inside the USA (based on 2016) to an index of 100. All other countries are related to this index. Therefore with an index of e.g. 80, the usual expenses in another country are 20% less then inside the United States.

The example of Luxembourg:
With a cost of living index of 110 all good are on average about 10 percent more expensive than in the USA. But the average income in Luxembourg of 6417 USD is also 38% higher, which means that citizens can also afford more on the other side. If you now calculate the 10% higher costs against the 38% higher income, people in Luxembourg can still afford about 1.3 times more than a US citizen.

PlatzCountryCost of living indexØ Monthly incomePurchasing power index
1
Switzerland		156.07,053 USD96.9
2
Iceland		131.94,178 USD67.9
3
Norway		131.97,812 USD126.9
4
Denmark		119.64,879 USD87.5
5
Singapore		114.54,341 USD81.2
6
Australia		112.85,006 USD95.1
7
Hong Kong		111.53,417 USD65.7
8
New Zealand		110.03,335 USD65.0
9
Luxembourg		109.56,417 USD125.6
10
Israel		109.22,981 USD58.5
11
Japan		108.13,237 USD64.2
12
Ireland		106.34,382 USD88.4
13
Finland		105.33,879 USD79.0
14
United Kingdom		103.93,616 USD74.6
15
Sweden		103.94,827 USD99.6
16
Belgium		100.53,688 USD78.6
17
United States		100.04,665 USD100.0
18
France		98.63,378 USD73.5
19
Netherlands		97.84,071 USD89.3
20
Qatar		95.86,999 USD156.6
21
South Korea		94.92,288 USD51.7
22
Canada		93.33,962 USD91.0
23
Austria		93.13,951 USD91.0
24
Italy		91.92,734 USD63.8
25
United Arab Emirates		90.43,591 USD85.1
26
Germany		89.73,828 USD91.5
27
Argentina		87.71,038 USD25.4
28
Macau		87.65,598 USD137.0
29
Ghana		86.8123 USD3.0
30
Malta		83.91,994 USD50.9
31
Venezuela		82.2982 USD25.6
32
Costa Rica		79.0867 USD23.5
33
Spain		78.72,378 USD64.7
34
Jamaica		76.2421 USD11.8
35
Greece		74.01,693 USD49.1
36
Slovenia		71.61,849 USD55.4
37
Burma		70.697 USD2.9
38
Portugal		70.41,711 USD52.1
39
Iraq		69.1485 USD15.0
40
Tanzania		67.777 USD2.4
41
Estonia		66.61,530 USD49.2
42
Croatia		65.91,058 USD34.4
43
China		65.8661 USD21.5
44
Mauritius		65.6815 USD26.6
45
Saudi Arabia		65.11,963 USD64.6
46
Cambodia		64.889 USD3.0
47
Nigeria		64.6235 USD7.8
48
Chile		63.71,175 USD39.6
49
Latvia		63.21,248 USD42.3
50
Lithuania		62.31,245 USD42.8
51
Ecuador		60.6503 USD17.8
52
Ethiopia		60.549 USD1.7
53
Slovakia		60.41,464 USD52.0
54
Fiji		60.0403 USD14.4
55
Czech Republic		57.31,512 USD56.5
56
Turkey		57.3829 USD31.0
57
Iran		56.2546 USD20.8
58
Thailand		54.8477 USD18.6
59
Kenya		54.5112 USD4.4
60
Namibia		54.3433 USD17.1
61
Vietnam		54.1166 USD6.6
62
Montenegro		54.1602 USD23.8
63
Belarus		54.0538 USD21.4
64
Hungary		53.81,082 USD43.1
65
Brazil		53.2821 USD33.1
66
Russia		52.6954 USD38.9
67
Peru		52.0511 USD21.1
68
Malaysia		51.3881 USD36.8
69
Bolivia		51.2250 USD10.5
70
Egypt		50.2278 USD11.9
71
Bulgaria		49.8623 USD26.8
72
Indonesia		49.7287 USD12.4
73
Poland		49.71,112 USD48.0
74
Mexico		49.1809 USD35.4
75
Morocco		48.7253 USD11.1
76
Armenia		48.6323 USD14.3
77
Bangladesh		48.699 USD4.4
78
Romania		47.6792 USD35.6
79
South Africa		47.5507 USD22.8
80
Philippines		47.5296 USD13.3
81
Bosnia and Herzegovina		47.4389 USD17.6
82
Sri Lanka		46.6317 USD14.6
83
Albania		46.3357 USD16.5
84
Serbia		45.9462 USD21.6
85
Syria		43.4155 USD7.7
86
Macedonia		42.5428 USD21.6
87
Tunisia		42.0332 USD16.9
88
Colombia		40.0595 USD31.9
89
Algeria		39.6406 USD22.0
90
Ukraine		39.1220 USD12.1
91
Nepal		37.461 USD3.5
92
Kazakhstan		36.7949 USD55.5
93
Pakistan		36.5120 USD7.0
94
Moldova		35.2187 USD11.4
95
India		33.0133 USD8.7





The calculated cost of living index is based on the OECD figures and has been completed with consumer information of Numbeo. It does not take into account the differences between poverty and wealth, as well as prices for goods that do not belong to normal needs. Therefore this list should be regarded as a mathematical theorem. Whether it is realistic to survive with a purchasing power index of 1.7 (Ethiopia) does not matter in this table. This would correspond to about one-57th of the purchasing power inside the US.

Other indices

There are some other indices, e.g. the study of the swiss bank UBS issued about every 3 years or of the EDA (Federal Departement of Foreign Affairs). Both studies refer only to some few and usually large cities in which UBS and Switzerland have a representation.