We have updated all data for our tool providing indications of cost of living amongst our list of main expat destinations.

If you want to give a try, click HERE, unselect the category of goods you wish to exclude from the basket, enter your current salary (in any currency - only digits) and choose the current city and the one you want to compare with. Then press OK to validate...

In order to compare different countries, all our data are translated into indexes (e.g. if London/food index is 100, Paris/food index is 93). Therefore the same currency or index is represented in both boxes.

The cost of living data for the selected cities were obtained from different sources published on the Internet, and added to our own research to update our data. The main source is the UBS Price and earning study published every 3 years.

The latest edition of Prices and Earnings published in September 2015 covers 71 cities accross the globe. The study was carried out between the end of March and end of April 2015 with a standardized survey on prices of 122 goods and services, and earnings for 15 professions in 71 cities worldwide.

The study explains: 

"Total expenditure on goods and services aims to measure the average cost of living in each of the surveyed cities, and the results are astounding. Zurich, the most expensive city in our survey, has a cost of living 185% higher than that of Kiev, our least expensive city. Expenditure in middle-ranking cities such as Shanghai, Berlin, and São Paulo is on average 75% less than that in Zurich, and 60% more than in Kiev.

The price level rankings reveal the relative cost of goods and services worldwide. Zurich, Geneva, and New York City have the highest prices, over 2.5 times higher than those in Bucharest, Sofia, and Kiev, with the lowest. Istanbul, Doha, and Lyon are middle-ranking cities; prices there are somewhat closer to those of high-ranking cities than to those of lower ranked ones."

They also highlight one of the decisive factore for price moves: the exchange rates which have moved significantly in many countries, States looking for a weak currency to boost exports, which prompt talk of a “currency war”.

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