CEOWORLD magazine - Latest - Stats Gate - Most Expensive Countries In The World To Live In, 2020

Most Expensive Countries In The World To Live In, 2020

Anna PapadopoulosStats GateFebruary 3, 2020

Zurich city in Switzerland

Switzerland is officially the most expensive nation on earth to live in, according to a report from the CEOWORLD magazine. European countries were prominent on the most expensive list, of the top-twenty nations, nine were in Europe, five in Asia, one in North America, one in Africa, two in the Caribbean, and two in Oceania.

Norway ranks second in the list of the world’s most expensive countries to live, followed by Iceland, Japan, Denmark, Bahamas, Luxembourg, Israel, Singapore, and South Korea.

Should none of those appeals, a little further down the list you’ll find the United States (20th), the United Kingdom (27th), Saudi Arabia (57th), and Russia (82nd).

To identify the world’s most and least expensive countries to live in, CEOWORLD magazine collected and reviewed data from dozens of studies; consumer price index; Numbeo Cost of Living Index; numerous national; and international media reports. CEOWORLD magazine based its assessment on a range of living costs, such as accommodation, clothing, taxi fares, utility, internet, the price of groceries, transport, and eating out. The rankings are based on five major metrics: cost of living, rent, groceries, eating out and purchasing power.

These data are then compiled into an index, using the notoriously expensive city of New York City (NYC) as a benchmark. New York was given an index score of 100.

So a country with a score higher than 100 is more expensive than New York, while below signals that it is cheaper. As a reference point, the average score for Germany was 65.26, making it the 29th most expensive country in which to live.

On the other side of the spectrum, the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is the world’s most affordable country to live in, followed by Afghanistan, India, Syria, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tunisia.

Most Expensive Countries In The World To Live In, 2020

Rank	Country	Cost of Living Index	Rent Index	Cost of Living Plus Rent Index	Groceries Index	Restaurant Price Index	Local Purchasing Power Index
1	Switzerland	122.4	50.25	87.89	120.27	123.01	119.53
2	Norway	101.43	36.15	70.21	91.14	109.28	88.38
3	Iceland	100.48	46.95	74.88	86.89	113.74	79.44
4	Japan	83.35	25.97	55.9	81.82	48.95	87.28
5	Denmark	83	31.92	58.57	61.74	100.75	100.88
6	Bahamas	82.51	36.36	60.43	62.65	83.66	54.18
7	Luxembourg	81.89	54.92	68.99	69.1	89.85	103.92
8	Israel	81.15	31.33	57.32	66.31	88.65	78.09
9	Singapore	81.1	63.27	72.58	66.75	58.99	88.96
10	South Korea	78.18	22.86	51.72	91.31	44.87	85.21
11	Hong Kong	77.22	79.57	78.35	75.94	54.36	65.32
12	Barbados	76.02	19.7	49.08	65.2	68.14	51.1
13	Ireland	75.91	43.88	60.59	58.35	81.24	80.88
14	France	74.14	25.39	50.82	67.9	72.54	80.36
15	Netherlands	73.75	35.18	55.3	55.87	80.48	90.73
16	Australia	73.54	34.86	55.04	67.23	70.32	107.31
17	New Zealand	72.53	32.09	53.19	64.69	68.8	92.66
18	Belgium	71.78	25.43	49.61	58.66	80.14	86.28
19	Seychelles	71.59	32.34	52.81	64.61	84.86	21.67
20	United States	71.05	40.32	56.36	66.61	70.74	109.52
21	Austria	70.38	26.81	49.54	61.73	68.09	82.38
22	Finland	70.29	26.16	49.18	56.52	76.81	99.93
23	Sweden	69.85	25.9	48.83	60.47	72.35	101.73
24	Canada	67.62	30.73	49.98	63.68	63.53	95.09
25	Puerto Rico	67.54	19.29	44.46	65.76	58.68	79.38
26	Malta	67.46	31.04	50.04	54.9	75.94	46.32
27	United Kingdom	67.28	29.85	49.38	51.27	74.13	91.73
28	Italy	67.26	21.22	45.24	55.44	72.32	65.59
29	Germany	65.26	27.06	46.99	49.23	61.58	102.36
30	Macao	64.84	43.98	54.87	62	43.37	80.9
31	Qatar	64.04	47.44	56.1	53.61	66.83	111.69
32	United Arab Emirates	61.98	41.07	51.98	47.63	61.32	91.58
33	Taiwan	61.37	16.42	39.87	71.51	28.49	65.67
34	Lebanon	60.5	24.54	43.3	43.92	58.16	44.47
35	Bahrain	58.94	30.95	45.55	48.11	54.55	57.88
36	Cyprus	57.93	20.54	40.05	44.21	63.11	57.41
37	Jamaica	57.82	15.25	37.46	58.96	38.12	32.37
38	Greece	55.67	11.68	34.62	41.63	53.74	43.68
39	Zimbabwe	55.3	11.02	34.12	50.8	40.79	26.03
40	Palestinian Territory	54.54	8.83	32.68	46.67	38.93	46.91
41	Ethiopia	54.39	20.9	38.37	36.3	19.37	8.34
42	Panama	54.16	24.76	40.09	53.03	47.27	34.23
43	Costa Rica	53.98	15.55	35.6	49.6	43.51	42.61
44	Spain	53.77	21.77	38.46	42.38	52.07	72.03
45	Trinidad And Tobago	53.7	17.26	36.27	49.43	49.83	45.7
46	Jordan	53.67	11.54	33.52	43.32	47.12	34.88
47	Slovenia	53.43	17.09	36.05	43.76	45.43	66.31
48	Mauritius	53.04	11.99	33.41	48.94	43.96	30.88
49	Uruguay	51.04	14.43	33.53	40.12	47.41	37.46
50	Estonia	50.93	15.41	33.94	36.57	52.94	71.3
51	Kuwait	50.37	31.21	41.21	34.68	47.08	85.59
52	Thailand	49.77	17.1	34.14	49.2	24.9	35.45
53	Croatia	49.7	13.5	32.38	39.9	42.44	50.42
54	Portugal	49.52	21.81	36.27	38.14	42.48	49.43
55	Oman	49.28	17.98	34.31	43.5	44.26	80.97
56	Belize	49.23	9.74	30.34	41.89	37.05	57.53
57	Saudi Arabia	48.34	11.39	30.67	37.89	33.51	100
58	Latvia	47.94	12.34	30.91	34.85	42.88	52.48
59	Cambodia	47.49	14.9	31.9	44.56	25.19	11.29
60	Fiji	47.48	18.55	33.64	52.67	35.87	33.17
61	Czech Republic	46.15	19.56	33.43	38.13	34.1	62.82
62	El Salvador	45.57	13.48	30.22	43.67	34.8	24.71
63	Brunei	44.71	23.08	34.36	37.11	38.06	86.95
64	Nicaragua	44.56	7.61	26.88	41.71	31.41	23.92
65	Slovakia	44.46	16.11	30.9	37.51	33.82	56.94
66	Lithuania	44.28	13.65	29.63	33.63	42.7	57.85
67	Dominican Republic	44.06	10.62	28.06	35.93	38.27	23.95
68	Chile	43.62	13.39	29.16	36.45	41.57	42.5
69	Cuba	43.46	4.84	24.99	37.4	30.95	2.18
70	Suriname	43.14	7.79	26.23	45.78	34.98	22.39
71	Namibia	43.1	16.12	30.19	36.8	39.22	55.65
72	South Africa	42.87	16.61	30.31	33.29	40.58	73.61
73	Guatemala	42.7	15.29	29.59	37.41	33	39.83
74	Honduras	42.17	10.6	27.07	33.33	30.55	30.26
75	Myanmar	42.11	23.78	33.35	44.68	19.04	10.22
76	Ecuador	40.98	11.96	27.1	35.46	30.66	36.08
77	Hungary	40.85	13.97	27.99	30.77	34.46	47.55
78	Brazil	40.22	10.65	26.08	29.2	30.78	32.81
79	Kenya	40.21	10.73	26.11	35.35	35.06	27.32
80	China	40.04	16.38	28.72	40.37	29.16	60.88
81	Poland	40.04	15.67	28.38	30.55	33.45	59.61
82	Russia	39.21	11.36	25.89	31.08	39.61	38.94
83	Botswana	39.13	11.12	25.73	31.74	39.98	58.1
84	Malaysia	39.12	11	25.67	37.58	22.94	64.49
85	Iraq	39.04	11.28	25.76	31.85	32.72	42.43
86	Iran	39.01	14.48	27.28	35.54	25.12	22.69
87	Somalia	38.68	4.75	22.45	45.88	27.04	33.24
88	Peru	38.65	12.78	26.28	33.8	24.69	33.95
89	Vietnam	38.34	13.57	26.5	37.06	19.59	28.14
90	Montenegro	38.23	10.38	24.91	28.63	33.16	39.8
91	Ghana	37.65	19.41	28.93	37.17	26.59	14.66
92	Philippines	37.63	9	23.94	33.46	20.84	23.48
93	Indonesia	37.27	10.62	24.52	37.36	18.25	25.05
94	Bulgaria	36.7	9.64	23.75	30.09	29.14	49.37
95	Albania	36.39	8.55	23.07	28.39	26.75	29.56
96	Bosnia And Herzegovina	35.97	6.72	21.97	28.08	25.1	41.83
97	Mexico	35.72	11.46	24.11	32.39	32.12	41.81
98	Serbia	35.72	9.08	22.98	25.46	28.63	36.72
99	Romania	35.31	10.05	23.22	29.03	30.5	48.86
100	Tanzania	35.25	14.04	25.11	29.66	22.57	17.58
101	Belarus	34.7	10.5	23.13	28.06	38.94	37
102	Turkey	34.69	6.78	21.34	29.76	24.16	40.85
103	Bolivia	34.56	10.93	23.26	28.09	25.11	39.34
104	Morocco	34.32	8.94	22.18	30.11	24.5	35.25
105	Moldova	33.7	8.4	21.6	25.96	27.79	27.57
106	Rwanda	33.35	11.88	23.08	26.83	29.17	19.32
107	Ukraine	33.18	10.46	22.31	26.01	26.42	31.8
108	Argentina	32.95	8.33	21.17	25.82	30.52	47.22
109	Armenia	32.84	10.91	22.35	25.61	30.43	28
110	Bangladesh	32.25	5.01	19.22	29.72	19.21	33.21
111	Zambia	31.72	7.39	20.08	26.86	22.07	54.14
112	Sri Lanka	31.61	7.74	20.2	35.09	18.76	24.45
113	Macedonia	31.59	6.49	19.58	24.94	23.31	37.15
114	Paraguay	31.1	9.66	20.85	25.03	25.01	32.6
115	Nigeria	31	23.59	27.45	31.15	17.71	13.52
116	Colombia	30.66	9.58	20.58	25.05	22.44	31.12
117	Kazakhstan	30.64	9.78	20.66	24.31	29.87	38.36
118	Uganda	30.18	10.15	20.6	25.25	22.14	20.5
119	Algeria	30.1	5.34	18.26	30.71	15.89	28.69
120	Azerbaijan	29.92	9.48	20.15	23.74	30.36	30.2
121	Egypt	29.54	5.49	18.04	25.5	23.53	22.41
122	Nepal	29.05	4.77	17.44	24.91	20.36	21.9
123	Georgia	28.48	9.8	19.54	23.05	26.66	24.88
124	Kosovo	28.47	8.47	18.91	26.53	21.04	48.9
125	Venezuela	27.17	6.81	17.43	28.29	24.41	2.61
126	Tunisia	27.04	5.51	16.74	25.25	14.95	34.45
127	Kyrgyzstan	26.97	9.18	18.46	23.39	21.45	24.98
128	Uzbekistan	26.01	7.54	17.18	21.59	20.17	24.31
129	Syria	25.31	5.68	15.92	22.42	21.38	11.46
130	India	24.58	5.68	15.54	24.55	17.17	54.3
131	Afghanistan	24.24	4.03	14.58	17.7	17.38	28.2
132	Pakistan (Islamic Republic of)	21.98	4.59	13.66	19.08	16.78	30.57

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CEOWORLD magazine - Latest - Stats Gate - Most Expensive Countries In The World To Live In, 2020

Anna Papadopoulos

Anna Papadopoulos is a senior money, wealth, and asset management reporter at CEOWORLD magazine, covering consumer issues, investing and financial communities + author of the CEOWORLD magazine newsletter, writing about money with an enthusiasm unknown to mankind. You can follow CEOWORLD magazine on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or connect on LinkedIn for musings on money, wealth, asset management, millionaires, and billionaires. Email her at info@ceoworld.biz.