Inflation has triggered a rise in the cost of living in the United States and throughout the rest of the developed world. The consumer price index rose 7% in December, compared to the same month last year. Prices of some items, like used cars and gasoline, rose over 30% during the period.
Differences in cost of living from nation to nation are due in part to wages, inflation and the cost of basic items such as food, fuel and housing. Several countries, particularly in Africa, have median incomes of under $3,000. Both costs of living and income in these nations are extremely low, particularly compared with the United States, where the median household income was $67,521 in 2020.
Numbeo recently released its Cost of Living Index by Country 2022. Factors used to create a cost of living index for each of the 139 nations measured include rent, groceries, restaurants and local purchasing power. The country with the highest score was Bermuda, with an index of 146.04. The United States ranked 26th at 70.13. At the bottom of the list, Pakistan had an index of 19.92.
Bermuda’s GDP per capita ranks eighth in the world at $81,800, according to the CIA World Factbook. The gross domestic product per capita figure is used as an alternative measure of wealth and can be a proxy for median household income.
Pakistan’s GDP per capita figure is $4,600. That ranks it 177th. The CIA World Factbook measures more nations than Numbeo does.
These are Numbeo’s 20 countries with the lowest cost of living:
- Pakistan (19.92)
- Afghanistan (20.37)
- India (24.43)
- Colombia (26.72)
- Algeria (26.87)
- Kosovo (27.05)
- Uzbekistan (27.31)
- Tunisia (27.87)
- Nepal (28.29)
- Turkey (28.31)
- Kazakhstan (28.68)
- Syria (28.75)
- Egypt (29.52)
- Azerbaijan (29.73)
- Georgia (30.18)
- Paraguay (30.20)
- Moldova (30.35)
- Nigeria (30.49)
- Ukraine (30.71)
- Belarus (30.89)
Click here to see which are the richest countries in the world.
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