Cheap cost of living

India has won more beauty contents than almost any other country bar Venezuela, it's cheap, the weathers good and most people speak english.

Infact, it's so good a lot of peoples jobs have gone there already. :rollin

I read recently that Indian companies are recruiting British Call Centre workers to go and work over there paying around 25% of what they'd get here. However, the cost of living is about an eight as much so in real terms they'll get paid twice as much (and they've got the weather).

NOTICE HOW BANGALORE IS CHEAP !
there is future there for all those geeks.

122 Ottawa, Canada

Not bad. Nice city, plenty of work. crappy winters however. Excellent transport system. and you can head to the hill and flick nose droppings at the politicians.

Sorry, wendigo, yes, from that point of view I agree. Just wanted to say that it's not a fair comparison for touristic purposes.

Franco, this list indicates the absolute cost of living, which is far more useful to me.

If I go to different places, it indicates how much it is going to cost me while I am there. It is one of the first things I used to ask agents about foreign contracts, and one of the first things I'd find out about holiday destinations.

If I consider a contract in Tokyo, I now know it is more expensive than Birmingham, so I need a higher fee to cover it. However, I also know to consider very carefully before going there on holiday.

The real cost of living, as you put it, is academically interesting but bugger all use to me. Actually, telling me that Tokyo is the same/cheaper/more expensive for the average Jap as Birmingham is for the average Brit is not even interesting.

Burgernomics

What you are suggesting is a comparison of the standard of living, of city dwellers.

Could do what The Economist does and use their Big Mac index (they use it to identify over/under valued currencies on the basis that the cost of a Big Mac is more or less constant as regards the amount of purchasing power relative to average wages needed to buy one). It has proved to be alarmingly accurate.

"It does if you are a traveller, especially a contractor. "

Well, those statistics should take into account only common goods for people living there. It shouldn't really include hotelling or touristic expenses (i.e. the cost of living in Bulgaria or Estonia is quite well different from the cost of "travelling" in Estonia or Bulgaria).

"What you are suggesting is a comparison of the standard of living"

Well, no, just the real cost of living (instead of the nominal one), that is compared to the average salary.

They should always compare the cost of living to the average salary, otherwise it makes no sense.

It does if you are a traveller, especially a contractor.

What you are suggesting is a comparison of the standard of living, of city dwellers.

They should always compare the cost of living to the average salary, otherwise it makes no sense.