International Country Cost of Living July 2016

An expatriate professional migrant is someone who voluntarily lives outside their country in order to take up a job opportunity and a better or at the very least a similar, quality of life with the intention returning to their home country and do not therefore consider themselves to be local in their host country.

This survey by Xpatulator.com is based on expatriate professional migrant spending focussing on “international” brands and premium service providers such as up-market medical practices, international schools, and exclusive, secure accommodation. The cost of living information is used by Xpatulator.com subscribers to calculate cost of living differences between global home and host locations for expatriate professional migrants. Cost of living differences are key to calculating expatriate salary packages for international assignments.

The top ten most expensive countries in the world comprise three from Africa (Angola) (1); Democratic Republic of the Congo (5); Eritrea (7)), three from Europe (Norway (2); Switzerland (3); Denmark (8)), and four from America (Bermuda (4); Cayman Islands (6); Barbados (9); Bahamas (10)).

Angola is the most expensive city in the world for expatriate professional migrants mainly because almost all international standard goods and services have to be imported and due to the lack of infrastructure there are price premiums due to demand exceeding supply. The lower oil price and consequent dramatic reduction in revenue to Angola in 2016 has seen prices remain extremely high, largely as a result of the weaker Angolan Kwanza (down approximately 40% against the US Dollar in the past year) making imports extremely expensive.

Norway has long been very expensive and interestingly is the only oil-producing country with high gas prices. High levels of taxation are applied to convince Norwegians to keep their cars at home and use public transportation instead. Almost everything in Norway is expensive compared to other countries. But this is not as much of a challenge for Norwegians as it is for expatriate professional migrants and tourists. Local Norwegian salary levels are very high in alignment with the high prices, and in addition disparities in income are much smaller than in most other countries. In addition a very progressive system of taxation further helps to reduce income inequality. While it can be argued that Norwegians are generally well off with low levels of unemployment and many state benefits, it comes at a cost of a large expensive government and a costly welfare state. High salary levels and taxes render the service industry, and anything produced in Norway, very expensive. High wages are also common in education and the broader public sector, as well as in the energy sector at all levels.

The 2016 rankings have largely been influenced by the strength of the US Dollar rather than changes in local prices. Generally those countries that are tied to the US Dollar have climbed in the rankings while cities in countries where the local currency has weakened have become more affordable and as a result fallen in the global rankings.

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.

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

The August 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: