Kosten des täglichen Bedarfs

Comparison of worldwide cost of living

Living ist most expensive in Switzerland and cheapest in India. In our ranking of 98 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 6388 USD is also 36% higher, which means that citizens can also afford more on the other side. If you now calculate the 10% higher costs against the 36% higher income, people in Luxembourg can still afford about 1.2 times more than a US citizen.

PlatzCountryCost of living indexØ Monthly incomePurchasing power index
1
Switzerland		156.06,770 USD92.7
2
Iceland		131.94,749 USD76.9
3
Norway		131.96,861 USD111.1
4
Denmark		119.64,728 USD84.5
5
Singapore		114.54,323 USD80.6
6
Australia		112.84,535 USD85.9
7
Hong Kong		111.53,603 USD69.0
8
New Zealand		110.03,256 USD63.2
9
Luxembourg		109.56,388 USD124.6
10
Israel		109.23,016 USD59.0
11
Japan		108.13,167 USD62.6
12
Ireland		106.34,380 USD88.0
13
Finland		105.33,728 USD75.6
14
United Kingdom		103.93,533 USD72.7
15
Sweden		103.94,553 USD93.6
16
Belgium		100.53,488 USD74.1
17
United States		100.04,682 USD100.0
18
France		98.63,246 USD70.3
19
Netherlands		97.83,859 USD84.3
20
Qatar		95.86,305 USD140.6
21
South Korea		94.92,300 USD51.8
22
Canada		93.33,638 USD83.3
23
Austria		93.13,769 USD86.5
24
Italy		91.92,633 USD61.2
25
United Arab Emirates		90.43,373 USD79.7
26
Germany		89.73,638 USD86.7
27
Argentina		87.7997 USD24.3
28
Macau		87.65,382 USD131.2
29
Ghana		86.8115 USD2.8
30
Malta		83.92,012 USD51.2
31
Venezuela		82.2980 USD25.5
32
Costa Rica		79.0903 USD24.4
33
Spain		78.72,293 USD62.2
34
Jamaica		76.2388 USD10.9
35
Greece		74.01,580 USD45.6
36
Slovenia		71.61,805 USD53.9
37
Burma		70.699 USD3.0
38
Portugal		70.41,654 USD50.2
39
Iraq		69.1453 USD14.0
40
Tanzania		67.775 USD2.4
41
Estonia		66.61,479 USD47.4
42
Croatia		65.91,009 USD32.7
43
China		65.8688 USD22.3
44
Mauritius		65.6813 USD26.5
45
Saudi Arabia		65.11,813 USD59.5
46
Cambodia		64.895 USD3.1
47
Nigeria		64.6204 USD6.8
48
Chile		63.71,128 USD37.8
49
Latvia		63.21,219 USD41.2
50
Lithuania		62.31,231 USD42.2
51
Ecuador		60.6485 USD17.1
52
Ethiopia		60.555 USD1.9
53
Slovakia		60.41,401 USD49.6
54
Fiji		60.0403 USD14.4
55
Czech Republic		57.31,464 USD54.6
56
Turkey		57.3932 USD34.7
57
Iran		56.2544 USD20.7
58
Thailand		54.8470 USD18.3
59
Kenya		54.5115 USD4.5
60
Namibia		54.3385 USD15.1
61
Vietnam		54.1171 USD6.7
62
Montenegro		54.1581 USD22.9
63
Belarus		54.0467 USD18.5
64
Hungary		53.81,048 USD41.6
65
Brazil		53.2737 USD29.6
66
Russia		52.6810 USD32.9
67
Peru		52.0496 USD20.4
68
Malaysia		51.3821 USD34.2
69
Bolivia		51.2256 USD10.7
70
Egypt		50.2288 USD12.3
71
Bulgaria		49.8623 USD26.7
72
Indonesia		49.7283 USD12.2
73
Poland		49.71,057 USD45.4
74
Mexico		49.1753 USD32.8
75
Morocco		48.7238 USD10.4
76
Armenia		48.6313 USD13.8
77
Bangladesh		48.6111 USD4.9
78
Romania		47.6789 USD35.4
79
South Africa		47.5457 USD20.5
80
Philippines		47.5298 USD13.4
81
Bosnia and Herzegovina		47.4407 USD18.3
82
Sri Lanka		46.6315 USD14.4
83
Albania		46.3354 USD16.3
84
Serbia		45.9440 USD20.5
85
Syria		43.4153 USD7.5
86
Macedonia		42.5415 USD20.9
87
Tunisia		42.0308 USD15.6
88
Colombia		40.0527 USD28.1
89
Algeria		39.6356 USD19.2
90
Azerbaijan		39.6397 USD21.4
91
Georgia		39.3318 USD17.3
92
Ukraine		39.1193 USD10.5
93
Nepal		37.461 USD3.5
94
Kazakhstan		36.7726 USD42.3
95
Pakistan		36.5126 USD7.4
96
Moldova		35.2177 USD10.7
97
India		33.0140 USD9.1





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 1.9 (Ethiopia) does not matter in this table. This would correspond to about one-52th 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.