Asia is the largest and most populous continent of the world and is the fastest growing economic region. It has the largest continental economy by both GDP Nominal and PPP in the world and, and it is rich in natural resources, such as petroleum, forests, fish, water, rice, copper and silver. Many companies from Europe and North America have operations in Asia, to take advantage of its abundant supply of cheap labour and relatively developed infrastructure.
This continent is very attractive and there are many great reasons to live and work in Asia. Before moving to Asia continent, it is important to take in consideration the most important objective and subjective factors during the decision-making. One of the most important factors is definitely the cost of living and in this work, we are going to compare the cost of living (excl. rent) and cost of living plus rent in some of the Asian countries with the cost of living in New York City.
In all the Asian countries, considered in this work, the cost of living (excl. rent) and cost of living plus rent are lower than in NYC. If we consider cost of living index (excl. rent), the most expensive country in Asia is Japan, followed by Hong Kong, South Korea, Israel and Singapore, but if we consider cost of living plus rent index the rank changes. Hong Kong is the most expensive country, followed by Singapore, Japan, Qatar and Israel.
The chart below shows the ranking of Asian countries from 21 to 37.
India is in the penultimate place in cost of living (excl. rent) ranking and cost of living plus rent ranking. Pakistan is the cheapest country in Asia in both of them.
About the data used in this work
Cost of living index (excl. rent) is a relative indicator of consumer goods prices. It includes groceries, restaurants, transportation and utilities, but it does not include accommodation expenses such as rent or mortgage. Cost of living plus rent index includes consumer goods prices and the rent.
These indices are relative to New York City, so it means that for NYC, each index should be 100%. If another country or city has, for example, cost of living index plus rent of 145, it means that on an average in that country or city cost of living plus rent is 45% more expensive than in NYC. If a country or a city has, a cost of living plus rent index of 45 that means on an average in that country or city cost of living plus rent is 45% less expensive than in NYC.
The data used in this work are provided by Numbeo and are relating to 2019.