These are the cheapest countries in the world – including South Africa

 ·16 Jun 2016
Expat jobs south africa

South Africa is the 19th cheapest country in the world for foreigners trading in dollars to visit or settle down to live in.

This is according to Numbeo’s cost of living survey, which takes into account the price of around 50 items, including accommodation, food and drink, clothing, taxi fares, and internet and phone bills.

The index is based on direct pricing comparison where prices in New York are the base (100). Because the data is used to show direct comparisons, the cost of living is not used to represent the cost of living in purchasing power parity terms. The data is thus more valuable to expats or travellers.

New data from MoveHub, an international relocations expert, revealed that South Africa is one of the world’s biggest gainers of professional migrants, ranked 14th overall. One of the biggest pull factors for South Africa is how cheap the cost of living is in the country, relative to other countries.

With mature financial markets and developed metropolitan areas, the country offers foreigners a high standard of living at half the cost of a city like New York.

South Africa has featured on many “cheapest countries to live in” lists, with some even ranking the country as the cheapest in the world.

According to the data, these are the 20 cheapest and 20 most expensive countries in the world.

20 most expensive countries

# Country Index score
1 Bermuda 133.68
2 Switzerland 123.10
3 Bahamas 107.54
4 Norway 99.80
5 Iceland 96.45
6 Denmark 84.88
7 Singapore 83.67
8 Luxembourg 82.01
9 Kuwait 81.62
10 Hong Kong 81.48
11 Japan 81.24
12 United Kingdom 81.03
13 Australia 78.45
14 New Zealand 78.17
15 Ireland 78.03
16 Israel 75.75
17 Sweden 75.70
18 Belgium 75.44
19 France 75.30
20 Finland 75.25

The 20 cheapest countries

# Country Index score
122 India 24.14
121 Moldova 25.70
120 Pakistan 26.69
119 Kazakhstan 26.82
118 Nepal 27.34
117 Ukraine 28.56
116 Georgia 28.71
115 Algeria 28.89
114 Azerbaijan 28.93
113 Colombia 29.25
112 Tunisia 30.67
111 Macedonia 31.05
110 Syria 31.75
109 Serbia 33.56
108 Albania 33.81
107 Sri Lanka 34.11
106 Bosnia and Herzegovina 34.59
105 Philippines 34.73
104 South Africa 34.75
103 Romania 34.80

More on cost of living

These are the top countries people are leaving – including South Africa

South Africa has two of the cheapest cities in the world

South Africa is the cheapest country in the world to live

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