Economy

This Is the Least Expensive Nation in Which to Raise a Family

Douglas A. McIntyre

Published: August 20, 2021 10:30 am

The costs to raise a family vary from nation to nation, as do costs for everything from food to education and transportation. As would be expected, the cost to raise a family in a highly developed nation is much more expensive than in a country where incomes and the cost of living are much lower. However, ever on a relative basis, the expenses needed to cover the costs of over a decade of providing for the needs of children may be the largest expense a family has.

Online toy seller PoundToy used data sourced from cost-of-living database Numbeo to estimate the annual cost of raising a young family in 63 nations. The costs include rent, utilities, preschool education, broadband internet and other living expenses. From this list, 24/7 Wall St. chose the least expensive one.

While it may be cheap to raise a family in poor, developing countries because of low costs of living, families in these countries also seldom have access to public resources, as well as little to no chance of economic mobility. In addition, health care outcomes tend to be poor in these nations, with shorter life expectancy and greater maternal and child mortality rates.

Across the countries we looked at, the annual cost of raising a family ranges from about $21,000 to $285,000. A rich European city-state like Monaco has astronomically high costs but a small population of affluent households that can afford them. On the other hand, an emerging-market country like Slovenia offers much lower family-raising costs but also lower wages and benefits to working families. It may seem cheap to raise a family in a certain country, but it is not cheap to the families that live there.

The country with the lowest costs to raise a family is Turkey, where the total annual cost is $21,303.

Click here to all the least expensive countries to raise a family in.