Switzerland is the dearest, India is the cheapest – and the UK came in 10th and the US came in 24th.
The prices of groceries, transportation, restaurants and utilities were analysed to draw this map of the cost of living
To be more precise, let's have a look at the cities with highest cost of living. All are situated in countries with HCL zone.
Most Expensive Cities By World RegionMost Expensive Cities By World Region
While looking at 'Where to be Born Index Map' we should find an inverse relationship in these aspects. However, very surprisingly, almost all countries that have high cost of living boast high quality life standards.
For example, if we look at Finland, Norway, Iceland and Denmark, all these countries rank among the happiest Nations globally and doing pretty good on happiness index every year. But when you compare the cost of living to quality of life there, both are on the same page.For example, if we look at Finland, Norway, Iceland and Denmark, all these countries rank among the happiest Nations globally and doing pretty good on happiness index every year. But when you compare the cost of living to quality of life there, both are on the same page.
So, whenever I see someone from the high cost of living nations announcing that there cost of living is way too much to handle, I can only scratch head to toe and ask myself, "why are these people dissatisfied? They are living a life of highest quality. Or, aren't they?"
Kindly enlighten my perception with yours 🙏 in case you agree or disagree to the point.
Apology Note: Posting it here because ~charts is RIP now or may have gone in the sleeping bag.
Siggy might not care, but this is probably better suited for ~econ.
Yes, I gave it a thought but after looking at the description, I could not post it there.
https://m.stacker.news/32566
I don't see the problem. Cost of living and quality of life are economics topics.
No, no, I don't mean there was a problem, rather it was a confusion because the owner has just made economics tangible to Bitcoin.
Also, I wrote it for 'Charts' but as I didn't find it in the list, I rushed for other options and just posted it here.
Ah, "tangential" means "not directly related to". He's saying it's not for bitcoin specific content.
Oops! This is one of my no-native hazards. I thought 'tangible' means relating to something, however it means 'having no direct connection'.
Thank you so much!
Tangential <> tangible
Look closer. They’re two different words.
And this is how I found out that ~charts was archived. Ah, well. It was a fun territory.
It was @kr’s territory and he mysteriously left Stacker News all of a sudden.
Charts should make a come back.
This is purely anecdotal, but years ago my wife and I thought about moving from the northeast US to Florida. Cost of living was the major draw. Then we would visit. After driving through miles of strip malls with Applebee's, Friday's, and every chain store imaginable, we decided we would pay the extra fiat to stay home.
That was a good decision. Home is home. I was away from my home for the sake of fiat for 17 years and now even all of the world's money money can take me away from my home. Mine story is opposite to yours. Where I used to work was a big city and the cost of living was much higher there. But my home is located in the beautiful foothills of the Himalyas and on the banks of river Ganga. Here I have so much of nature and so much of love of my parents , my siblings, friends and now a beautiful partner, I can't even imagine relocating just for the sake of earning a few extra bucks or if I require for cutting down on my cost of living.
That's so exotic and interesting for someone like me. It sounds like paradise.
Yes, it is!
Here are a few images of my surroundings.
These are incredible. We need to see a few more damn near every day.
Sure! Will try to be a bit more photographer for the lovers of nature.
Quality of life in India is much better than its anticipated or presented in the charts. Yes, the cost of living is much lower comparing to the developed countries. Even today, you can get very good quality and sufficient food under a dollar only in India. And because there are so many religious places, like gurudwaras, you can even eat food free of cost.
Very true. India is much better as it's projected. I don't understand why they pose negative image of our country? India is now the fourth biggest economy. Much better infrastructure and sufficient means of living. Only because the cost of living is very low, may be that's the cause.
Oh Singapore is ranked 25th for quality of life. We are not too far behind Portugal (20th) @0xbitcoiner. And @Satosora, all things considered, do you think Taiwan deserves its 30th position?
According to the cost of living index from Numbeo, Singapore is ranked 3rd for cost of living. I think Singapore ranks high for quality of life because we score well on many parameters: trustworthy, stable government, hub of commerce, good security and education and medical facilities. Heck, we even had an honourable mention on the Blue Zones documentary produced by Netflix.
But let me tell you, when your kopi kosong (sugarless black coffee) keeps increasing by ten cents every few months, it’s hard not to ignore the high cost of living here. It used to cost $1.10 last year. Now, you would be lucky to find a place that sells it for $1.20. I routinely pay $1.40 for my morning coffee because that coffee place is situated strategically during my commute to work. Time is more valuable than money, so I just splurge even though i inwardly shudder haha
I dont know.
I always thought taiwan was a ghetto Japan.
But you have to realize, I was an outsider in Taiwan.
I didnt speak the language, I am a 6'4''.
Everyone on the MRT looked at me because I was a head taller than them.
But I did come to realize that taiwan does have things the usa doesnt have.
Taiwan is all about convenience. But their food stalls arent up to usa standards.
We are social creatures, so how we interact with each other impacts our quality of life.
A number that I didn't see in this post is inequality, particularly Gini coefficient:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cc/Map_of_countries_by_GINI_coefficient_%281990_to_2020%29.svg/800px-Map_of_countries_by_GINI_coefficient_%281990_to_2020%29.svg.png
What research has found is that what matters to us is usually relative wealth. If that coefficient goes too high, you end up with civil unrest.
Yes, 100% true.
Amazing insights!
Surely 'gini coefficient' must be considered while charting quality of life or cost of living. But, all surveys ignore it just because it will eventually lead them to the real position. What I can see that in richer countries this coefficient' is higher than the poorer countries.
Im surprised Ireland is one of the better places to be born in.
Why not! Ireland is a beautiful country with all nature and no FUD. Very peaceful.
I just thought it would be flipped.
I thought England and Scotland would be better than Ireland.
Considering the cost of living is higher in Ireland the quality of life has to be better. The comparison between UK and Ireland clearly depicts the purpose of this post.
Just surprising, thats all.
Maybe I learned too much history on Ireland and their problems so it makes my thinking a bit biased.
It was surprising to me as well when I just noticed both these charts and found that all countries with higher cost of living have higher quality of life as well. Why is there no country that can be frugal for living, yet posses high quality life?
It could be a bias in how they took the data.
You cant always believe everything that is posted.
Not that I am saying it isnt accurate, maybe it isnt getting a large enough sample size.
Technically it's correct. The people who spend more money will surely lead higher quality of life. Just suppose, a person having all the riches, yet he wears torn clothes just to save more. Can he say he has the best quality of life? In fact can't. So, all that wealth is just a parameter, it's your behaviour of spending money that affects your life standards.
I enjoyed the way you compared the both aspects. However they both are co-related. Wherever people spend more, the quality of life is high!
However, it's not correct for India. I see that the quality of life in India is far better that the average cost of living. The cost of living doesn't affect the quality of life in my country. The reason is our Culture, religion, Ethics, spritual beliefs, belief in traditions and overall good condition of land and agriculture. We are a country of villages,, that's now working in favour of maintaining our quality of life.
The villages in India are much more social than the villages elsewhere. Now with development, they are becoming even more great. Like your insights.
You are absolutely right.
The cost of living is not that helpful by itself. It's only the "cost", doesn't say much about the quality nor its actual affordability.
Not to mention expensive places are usually expensive for a reason, good economic activities, meaning more public service (usually) and employment.
inflation also has this vagueness/misleading as well.
It's about the cost to maintain the same quality of life.
While everything is getting more expensive, we have more choices, we shift our preference, while most things also have shrinkflation
And preference sort of influenced by the price tag as well, there's a bit of a loop there.