Earlier quoted context omitted.
Would avoid the eastern part though
Yeah, not everyone has what it takes for a good adventure....I suppose that's why so many like Paris and Rome, it's all they can handle...
[deleted]
Cost of Living Index by Country 2024 – Numbeo
41–50 of 79 posts
Re: Cost of Living Index by Country 2024 – Numbeo
#42They should publish their own inflation index and compare it with the "official" numbers published by the governemnt
What people always get wrong about inflation statistics is that they’re really only meaningful when talking about the whole country. If you think CPI is wrong, well, it’s wrong for you. It’s wrong for every individual. But it’s right when you average everyone out.
For example, let’s say you have a fixed rate mortgage on the home you own and live in. If house prices skyrocket because supply is restricted, that inflation doesn’t affect you. Or let’s say you spend $200 per month on food out of a total budget of $4000. If food prices go up uniformly 20%, but nothing else changes for all the other stuff you buy (ie, you’re paying $40 more per month than you were before), you’re effective inflation rate is 1%.
Re: Cost of Living Index by Country 2024 – Numbeo
#43Earlier quoted context omitted.
Japan has always been a value. I don't understand why folks think it is expensive. Food is cheap, accommodations aren't expensive, transportation is affordable. The most expensive thing is airfare from the USA. I believe that they never fully recovered after Covid and tourism never bounced back. The YEN has also taken a beating so you can get more for your USD.
Japan was seen as expensive when I first moved there; my rent there was certainly higher than it would have been in Canada at the time (Circa 2008). Also, it's hard to directly compare stuff on shelves to what we have here. For example, Japanese peaches are much more expensive than Ontario peaches - but they are also incomparably better. However, if you only look at the price on the label, you would be rightfully sho…
Japan is mostly cheap, but on our trip my wife accidentally bought some grapes at a normal grocery store (she wasn’t converting prices in her head). I think it was $20 for a pound.
Re: Cost of Living Index by Country 2024 – Numbeo
#44Earlier quoted context omitted.
The US is not the only country who has experienced high inflation since COVID.
From my experience it's become relatively more expensive than other countries even if every country has experienced inflation to a small or large extent. The joke used to be how expensive Switzerland was...now I am looking at prices in Zurich for food, drinks, hotels and it's no different than what you'd pay in a big city in the US, maybe less.
In 2007 before I left Lausanne, a Big Mac meal, was 10.5 CHF, that was maybe $8, this was before CHF hit parity with USD. Now it is 16 CHF, and CHF is now 10% more dear than USD, so I would say it has risen quite a bit? Even if not as much as a Big Mac meal did in the states (from I think $5 to $13).
A better indicator would be Kebob prices, but I just don’t remember those.
Re: Cost of Living Index by Country 2024 – Numbeo
#45Earlier quoted context omitted.
Purchasing power can be misleading in countries with a top-heavy income distribution. Because cost of living calculations include everyday expenses but exclude most luxuries, average costs are close to what the typical consumer pays. But if the income distribution is skewed enough, average salaries can be much higher than what the typical consumer earns.
You can look at median salaries for that.
While you're right that median is more useful than mean in this case, it doesn't address the specific issue jltsiren raised, that this kind of statistics tends to exclude luxury goods.
This seems reasonable, as luxury is not related to the cost of 'living'. However doing so they include more-than-necessary-to-live earnings but excludes more-than-necessary-to-live costs.
In other words, if you include Bruce Wayne's income, you should include batmobiles, too!
Re: Cost of Living Index by Country 2024 – Numbeo
#46Australia should be #1. it is bonkers here right now. US is expensive than AU? hell no.
I'm from Australia and spent five weeks travelling in the US earlier this year. It felt more expensive than any previous trip, and also relative to Australia. We had grocery runs where I walked away wondering how a significant portion of the population there could afford to eat decent food. Tipping is always rising as well, so to eat out you're then paying a larger premium on an already higher number.
One example I can remember, comparing a pretty default Thai place in the US to one of the more premium Thai restaurants here in Adelaide: AU: Pad Thai chicken AU$23, Kao Pad chicken AU$19. US: Pad Thai chicken + tax and tip AU$32, house fried rice AU$32.
Yes, there's cheaper and more expensive, but that was a 'special occasion' restaurant versus a place we just stopped in adjacent a Walmart carpark.
Re: Cost of Living Index by Country 2024 – Numbeo
#47has anyone done a simple merging of the Cost of living and quality of living to get the top 10 countries with the lowest cost of living but relatively highest quality of living?
Do it and share!
Re: Cost of Living Index by Country 2024 – Numbeo
#48India offers remarkable value in all listed indexes except the Local Purchasing Power Index.
its QoL index is also remarkably low
Re: Cost of Living Index by Country 2024 – Numbeo
#49Australia should be #1. it is bonkers here right now. US is expensive than AU? hell no.
My experience last year was the USA felt more expensive, starting with the basics like the cheapest t-shirts from Wallmart (vs kmart), beers from a local bottleshop (I was always told AU got the highest alcohol tax so I was a bit surprised) and food places with tax+tips felt more expensive as well.
Re: Cost of Living Index by Country 2024 – Numbeo
#50Earlier quoted context omitted.
Japan was seen as expensive when I first moved there; my rent there was certainly higher than it would have been in Canada at the time (Circa 2008). Also, it's hard to directly compare stuff on shelves to what we have here. For example, Japanese peaches are much more expensive than Ontario peaches - but they are also incomparably better. However, if you only look at the price on the label, you would be rightfully sho…
Japan is mostly cheap, but on our trip my wife accidentally bought some grapes at a normal grocery store (she wasn’t converting prices in her head). I think it was $20 for a pound.
You should carefully check the price tag when you want to bug fruits and vegetables in Japan, especially those are produced in Japan. The Japan Agricultural Cooperation has a very long history in controlling the price of the local products. The imports usually cost less than domestically grown equivalents.