Most Expensive Countries In The World To Live In, 2024

Despina Wilson, D.Litt.April 6, 2024

According to a report by CEOWORLD magazine, Switzerland has been declared as the most expensive country in the world to live in. The list of the top twenty nations with the highest cost of living includes nine European countries, five Asian countries, one North American country, one African country, two countries from the Caribbean, and two countries from Oceania.

Following Switzerland, Norway has secured the second position, and Iceland, Japan, Denmark, Bahamas, Luxembourg, Israel, Singapore, and South Korea are in the top ten. If you are looking for a relatively cheaper place to live, you might want to consider the United States (20th), the United Kingdom (27th), Saudi Arabia (57th), or Russia (82nd), which are ranked lower on the list.

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; Cost of Living Index; and 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 a score below indicates 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, followed by Afghanistan, India, Syria, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tunisia.

Most Expensive Countries In The World To Live In, 2024

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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License and Republishing: The views in this article are the author’s own and do not represent CEOWORLD magazine. No part of this material may be copied, shared, or published without the magazine’s prior written permission. For media queries, please contact: info@ceoworld.biz. © CEOWORLD magazine LTD

Despina Wilson, D.Litt.

Despina Wilson, D.Litt. in Cultural Diplomacy and Journalism, is the Business News Editor at CEOWORLD Magazine, where she specializes in delivering strategic content at the intersection of international finance, executive positioning, and cross-cultural communication. Fluent in Spanish and English, Despina brings over 12 years of editorial and advisory experience across Latin America, the U.S., and Europe.

Before joining CEOWORLD magazine, she held senior editorial roles at finance publications in Mexico City and worked as a corporate communications advisor for multinational firms. Her writing explores macroeconomic shifts, emerging markets, corporate governance, and the PR strategies that shape public perception of top-tier companies and their leaders.

At CEOWORLD, Despina leads a multilingual editorial team that produces business content tailored for global executives navigating complex financial ecosystems. She holds a degree in Business Journalism and a certificate in Strategic Public Relations.

Despina is also a frequent speaker on Latin American investment trends, female leadership in finance, and corporate transparency. With a sharp editorial instinct and a passion for amplifying diverse perspectives, Gabriela ensures that CEOWORLD’s coverage remains forward-thinking, inclusive, and rooted in both analytical depth and brand insight.

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