The 2016 Mercer’s Cost of Living Survey was released recently and Kuwait came out pretty low on the MENA list (which is a good thing). The most expensive place to live in the MENA region turned out to be Dubai and the cheapest place to live turned out to be Jeddah.
Top 10 most expensive cities to live in the MENA region:
1- Dubai, UAE
2- Abu Dhabi, UAE
3- Beirut, Lebanon
4- Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
5- Manama, Bahrain
6- Doha, Qatar
7- Cairo, Egypt
8- Muscat, Oman
9- Kuwait City, Kuwait
10- Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
Mercer’s survey includes 209 cities across five continents and measures the comparative cost of more than 200 items in each location, including housing, transportation, food, clothing, household goods, and entertainment. The survey is designed to help multinational companies and governments determine compensation allowances for their expatriate employees. New York is used as the base city, and all cities are compared against it. Currency movements are measured against the US$. [Source]
The 10 most expensive cities to live in the world are:
1- Hong Kong, Hong Kong
2- Luanda, Angola
3- Zurich, Switzerland
4- Singapore, Singapore
5- Tokyo, Japan
6- Kinshasa, Dem. Rep. of the Congo
7- Shanghai, China
8- Geneva, Switzerland
9- Ndjamena, Chad
10- Beijing, China
If you want to see the full report you need to register on the Mercer website [Here]
via BlogBaladi
35 replies on “Kuwait is a Cheap Place to Live”
In Luanda, you have to pay approximately KD 1-2 for two tomatoes.
Not kidding.
mark i really miss your food reviews…..please hurry
Wonder whether this survey takes into account Kuwaiti salaries or expat salaries.
why are you wondering? just read the post it says exactly how they got these results
Incomes were not considered for the survey. Only cost of items.
Quote from Arabian Business:
“The most expensive country in the GCC, in terms of total cost of living, including rent and consumer goods and services, is Kuwait, which was placed ninth in the survey of 119 countries worldwide, just head of the UK and Ireland.”
Link: https://www.arabianbusiness.com/qatar-rents-ranked-third-most-expensive-in-world-581459.html#.V4Iz9NJ97IU
+1 thank you, thank you!
This is surprising, I expect Kuwait to be more expensive than Riyadh because I have lived in Riyadh and it is quiet cheaper than Kuwait.
Minor spelling error.
“Kinshasa”^
If most people cannot afford living alone with decent salary then it is expensive.
In a previous post you wrote about Numbeo, “Kuwait has the 9th highest cost of living in the world”: https://248am.com/mark/information/kuwait-has-the-9th-highest-cost-of-living/
They might have compared different things, but the headlines are sure confusing. One thing I’m sure of however, is that rent prices in Kuwait are much more expensive than in Germany.
It’s not my research, I’m just posting the news
“I’m just posting the news”? Really? Sounds like those impassive customer support guys on the phone that say “I just work here”. There are many ways news can spread. Annoying and misleading clickbait headlines are one of the worst I think.
Anyway, I was trying to add a constructive comment by mentioning the previous survey you posted to create some context and narrative and thus be more interesting to your readers.
You’re completely offtrack here. My response was to your comment that I previously posted that Kuwait was an expensive place to live. My reply was to that comment, that it’s not my research and that I am just sharing the news.
In regards to the title of this post, it’s no way misleading, it’s a fact based on the research presented by Mercer.
You just post the news, I get it now, that’s good to know. But I hope you realize that as someone who’s been subscribed to your blog for a long time many of your headlines, especially the conflicting ones, come off as annoying and misleading even if it’s not your intention.
You posted many of these surveys and studies before, I would find them more interesting if you would present them like a narrative to highlight the discrepancies between them.
Point taken
Mark, correction: Jeddah is not the cheapest, it’s the 10th most expensive. All the other cities are ranked above 10.
10th most expensive, or cheapest of the 10, same thing.
“The most expensive place to live in the MENA region turned out to be Dubai and the cheapest place to live turned out to be Jeddah” – the cheapest place out of the ten most expensive.
Which means it’s the cheapest
LOL this thread is everything.
It’s interesting research. Having lived in both Kuwait and Tokyo I can say they are probably right. My rent was similar in both cities, only in Japan my apartment was much smaller. Food prices were very similar. Beer was cheaper in Japan.
Kuwait can be very cheap and very expensive depending where you shop and what you eat.
However, one thing that is way too expensive in my opinion (considering the quality of what you are paying for) are rents and housing. I think Kuwait has to be the most overpriced place in the world, you are literally paying so much and getting shit properties in return.
EXACTLY! Here in Kuwait you’re paying at least 400 for a crappy apartment. and the average monthly income is 700
That’s 300 left over every month for essentials
That’s crazyyyyyy
if your salary is only 700 then maybe you shouldn’t be spending 400 on rent. the rule of thumb is not to spend more than 1/3 of your salary on rent, you’re spending more than half thats where the problem is.
Mark not everyone has a choice
you can get less rent, it depends, I know some pay 200 but apartment is small
Hong Kong is more expensive than Singapore?
NO COMMENT…….
Amman, Jordan is missing from your top 10 MENA list, it’s 50th internationally and tied with Beirut on the report.
Mark, are you kidding me? Kuwait is the most expensive place to live and buy. I live in Kuwait and abroad UK. UK is cheap to live than Kuwait. The apartment in Kuwait that use to be KD 130 five years ago, today it cost KD 380.
Someone gotta do proper survey. Kuwait should rank 1st to ne the expensive place to live.
The apartment that costs KD380 in Kuwait also costs KD1000 in London so not sure how you think UK is cheaper. London is one of the most expensive cities in the world…
Bro, KD 380 is £1000.
I lived in the UK costing me £400 terrace houses in the UK. Price of food in retail world like Asda and other bargain center cost much lesser. Car price much cheaper and affordable plus benefits I you are citizen of the UK.
Here price of food and others item us much much expensive minus the petrol only.
You can’t find a broom closet in London for £400 yet alone an apartment.
“Expensive” as a reflection of only cost of items is linear economics and doesnt tell the whole story.
Thus paying 600 KD a month for a 2 bd apartment in Kuwait where you basically get nothing (just basic stuff like parking and a pool if youre lucky) in a nice area of town would be considered expensive against say someone paying 900KD a month in Qatar for a 1 bedroom with the works (24 hr security, gym, pool, club, internet, furnished etc etc).
it is relative to affordability and context of a consumer’s “purchasing power” for a certain standard.
Kuwait is definitely inexpensive compared to the likes of Dubai , Qatar and abu Dhabi , but when you look at it from a non linear angle, it turns out to be expensive for what it offers.
Hi Guys. My name is Ibukun. I’m from Nigeria. I’ll be moving to Kuwait in a month on a work permit visa and I will like to know where I can get cheap rents say between 150kd and 200kd monthly for either 1bhk or a studio.