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.

144 Asunción, Paraguay

Cheapest to live in. Must be all that German efficiency.

I think its costed on business people staying in big chain ( rip off ) hotels that pretty much charge full whack wherever you are. Hanoi is on there at 50ish and you can stay in a 5 star hotel for £100 a night there, but go round the corner and you'll get a good local 4 star + for £8, slap up meal and few lagers for a few quid, new suit for a tenner, etc etc

What twa7s do these surveys?

Moscow is a very expensive city. Some things are cheap (public transport), but other than that prices are very similar to London.

Oslo cheaper than Moscow..:lol

What twa7s do these surveys?

For those thinking of fleeing this Chav and Pikey infested isle of Socialist tosspots, here is a list of the most expensive to cheapest places to live in the world.

www.citymayors.com/features/cost_survey.html


Here's the results for 2005:

1 Tokyo, Japan
2 Osaka, Japan
3 London, United Kingdom
4 Moscow, Russia
5 Seoul, South Korea
6 Geneva, Switzerland
7 Zurich, Switzerland
8 Copenhagen, Denmark
9 Hong Kong, Hong Kong
10 Oslo, Norway
11 Milan, Italy
12 Paris, France
13 New York City, United States
13 Dublin, Ireland
15 St. Petersburg, Russia
16 Vienna, Austria
17 Rome, Italy
18 Stockholm, Sweden
19 Beijing, China
20 Sydney, Australia
20 Helsinki, Finland
22 Douala, Cameroon
22 Istanbul, Turkey
24 Amsterdam, Netherlands
24 Budapest, Hungary
26 Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire
27 Warsaw, Poland
28 Prague, Czech Republic
29 Taipei, Taiwan
30 Shanghai, China
31 Bratislava, Slovak Republic
32 Düsseldorf, Germany
33 Luxembourg, Luxembourg
34 Singapore, Singapore
34 Frankfurt, Germany
36 Dakar, Senegal
37 Munich, Germany
38 Berlin, Germany
39 Tel Aviv, Israel
40 Glasgow, United Kingdom
41 Athens, Greece
41 Brussels, Belgium
43 Barcelona, Spain
44 Los Angeles, United States
45 White Plains, United States
46 Madrid, Spain
47 Birmingham, United Kingdom
48 Zagreb, Croatia
49 Hamburg, Germany
50 Hanoi, Vietnam
50 San Francisco, United States
52 Chicago, United States
52 Beirut, Lebanon
54 Riga, Latvia
54 Kiev, Ukraine
56 Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam
57 Miami, United States
58 Algiers, Algeria
59 Casablanca, Morocco
60 Tallin, Estonia
61 Lyon, France
61 Honolulu, United States
63 Shenzhen, China
64 Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
65 Guangzhou, China
66 Lisbon, Portugal
67 Amman, Jordan
68 Melbourne, Australia
69 Auckland, New Zealand
70 Houston, United States
71 Jakarta, Indonesia
72 Kuwait City, Kuwait
73 Dubai, United Arab Emirates
74 San Juan, Puerto Rico
75 Almaty, Kazakhstan
76 Wellington, New Zealand
76 Ljubljana, Slovenia
78 Washington, D.C., United States
79 Boston, United States
80 Morristown, United States
81 Sofia, Bulgaria
82 Toronto, Canada
83 Atlanta, United States
84 Brisbane, Australia
85 Leipzig, Germany
86 Manama, Bahrain
87 Vancouver, Canada
88 Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
89 Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
89 Adelaide, Australia
91 Vilnius, Lithuania
91 Accra, Ghana
93 Perth, Australia
94 Denver, United States
95 Mexico City, Mexico
96 Lagos, Nigeria
97 Cairo, Egypt
98 Calgary, Canada
99 Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
100 Limassol, Cyprus
101 Detroit, United States
102 St. Louis, United States
103 Seattle, United States
103 Bucharest, Romania
105 Kingston, Jamaica
105 Mumbai, India
107 Montreal, Canada
108 Guatemala City, Guatemala
109 Cleveland, United States
110 New Delhi, India
111 Pittsburgh, United States
112 Portland (Ore.), United States
113 Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei
114 Panama City, Panama
115 Monterrey, Mexico
116 Johannesburg, South Africa
117 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
118 Lima, Peru
119 Nairobi, Kenya
119 Winston-Salem, United States
119 São Paulo, Brazil
122 Ottawa, Canada
123 Lusaka, Zambia
124 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
125 Bangkok, Thailand
126 Tunis, Tunisia
127 Dacca (Dhaka), Bangladesh
128 Santiago, Chile
129 Tehran, Iran
130 Blantyre, Malawi
131 Tianjin, China
132 Colombo, Sri Lanka
133 Bogotá, Colombia
134 Harare, Zimbabwe
135 San José, Costa Rica
136 Karachi, Pakistan
137 Quito, Ecuador
138 Chennai (Madras), India
138 Caracas, Venezuela
140 Montevideo, Uruguay
141 Bangalore, India
142 Buenos Aires, Argentina
143 Manila, Philippines
144 Asunción, Paraguay


Given the IT situation I would say number 141 is our best bet....