Country Expat Cost of Living Comparison Rankings April 2016

South Sudan is the most expensive country in the world for expats in 2016 due to the extremely high cost of maintaining a secure, expatriate style, standard of living and importing goods in the world's newest country. The economy of South Sudan is one of the world's weakest and most underdeveloped with little existing infrastructure. South Sudan exports timber and also contains many natural resources such as petroleum, iron ore, copper, chromium ore, zinc, tungsten, mica, silver, gold, diamonds, hardwoods, limestone and hydro-power. South Sudan is the most expensive country in the world for international expatriate quality groceries and for transport. It is also very expensive for furniture and appliances and for the limited recreation and culture opportunities for expatriates. The security risk for expatriates in South Sudan is high. Risks include a lack of government control, violent crime, theft, bandits, insurgent groups, communal violence, and cross-border clashes between Sudan and South Sudan. Other risks include poor infrastructure, often made more challenging by extreme weather. The population in South Sudan is just over 8 million with high levels of poverty and illiteracy rates, while the inflation rate is extremely high at over 90% in 2015. The government of South Sudan announced in December 2015 the floating of the South Sudanese pound (SSP). After the announcement, the value of the SSP, which had been pegged to the U.S. dollar at an official rate of 2.96 SSP to the dollar, fell to levels approaching the parallel market rates of 18.50 SSP to the dollar. The rate in late March 2016 had recovered to 13.80 SSP to the dollar. The cheaper South Sudanese pound should help improve the government’s fiscal situation as revenues from oil exports (as well as aid flows) increase in local currency.

Venezuela is the second most expensive expatriate country to live in worldwide. Venezuela is home to a large expat community (although this has reduced due to the stringent government regulations limiting the hiring and compensation of foreign workers), many of them continue to work in the country's booming oil industry. For expatriates in Venezuela, rampant inflation, product shortages and tight government controls on foreign exchange have kept it at the top of the list of the most expensive countries globally.

Xpatulator.com's quarterly survey is one of the world’s most comprehensive, and is designed to help multinational organizations determine appropriate compensation and allowances for their expatriate employees. The survey data uses New York as the base city, and all countries and cities are compared against it. Currency movements are measured against the US dollar. However subscribers can choose their own base city, host locations and currency. The reason why the survey is run quarterly is due to currency fluctuations and the impact of inflation on goods and services that influence the cost of expatriate programs as well as the rankings.

Venezuela and South Sudan have been included in the 2016 ranking despite their ongoing volatile economic situations and the multiple exchange rate systems in operation which can lead to considerably varied rankings. Venezuela and South Sudan's rankings can vary greatly depending on the exchange rate selected (very expensive using the official exchange rate but very cheap using the black market rate), we have taken the view that they cannot be left out of the rankings, and that the relative, real, cost to a typical professional expatriate, transacting at the official exchange rates, be included in the survey.

Oil-rich Angola has dropped two places, having been the most expensive country in the world for expatriates in 2015, to become the third most expensive country in the world for expats in 2016 due primarily to the drop in the price of oil, the resultant economic slow-down and the fact that the Angolan New Kwanza (AOA) is approximately 32% weaker against the US Dollar compared to a year ago. The economy of Angola has been one of the fastest-growing economies in the world since the early 2000's. Despite extensive oil and gas resources, diamonds, hydroelectric potential, and rich agricultural land, Angola remains poor, and a third of the population relies on subsistence agriculture. However Angola remains one of the most expensive countries in the world due to the extremely high cost of maintaining a secure, expatriate style, standard of living and importing goods. Angola is costly for expatriates due to its expensive expatriate housing, mostly imported produce and relatively limited international private schooling which is extremely highly priced and limited in supply. Overall the cost of importing and transporting most produce into Luanda contributes to the high costs for expatriates. Finding secure accommodation that meets the expectations of professional expatriates is extremely challenging and costly.

Switzerland is the fourth most expensive country for expatriates. This is due primarily to the robust Swiss Franc which has maintained its position against the US Dollar despite the dollar's strong showing in 2015, as well as due to high rentals and institutionalised high wages.

Norway has dropped two places and is now the fifth most expensive country for expatriates. This is mainly due to the weaker Norwegian Krone (lost more than 18% against the USD by the end of 2015) resulting primarily from the lower global oil price and subsequent weaker oil sector.

The survey covers 780 locations (countries and cities) across 5 continents and measures the comparative cost of over 200 items in each location, grouped into cost of living baskets such as household costs, transport costs, grocery costs, clothing costs etc. Xpatulator.com has been created to assist subscribers calculate expatriate pay using the online calculators and extensive database of cost of living and hardship indexes, for 780 international locations. The cost of living ranking information is updated quarterly using data collected by Xpatulator.com over the past 12 months.

The top 10 most expensive countries in the world from 2010 to 2016 are as follows:

The April 2016 world country cost of living comparison (217 countries) rankings for all expat basket items from most expensive location to least expensive are as follows: