Kuwait has highest cost of living in Arab World
Index ranks Kuwait 21st most expensive country globally
It is more expensive to live in Kuwait than in France, Canada, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, Germany and many other countries -according to an international online index. The latest ‘Cost of Living’ index released by Numbeo - a database of user-contributed data about cities and countries worldwide - ranks Kuwait as the 21st most expensive country in the world, one spot ahead of France, six spots ahead of Canada and eight spots ahead of the UK. It also ranks Kuwait first among Arab countries (second in the Middle East behind only Israel); nine spots ahead of Qatar (30th worldwide) and 10 ahead of the UAE (31st).
According to data in the index, which were last updated this month, Kuwait’s cost of living index rate reached 75.24 points, compared to 69.20 and 67.98 in Qatar and the UAE respectively. Meanwhile, Kuwait ranked 16th worldwide in the rent index with 37.82 points, and 18th in the cost of living plus rent index with 57.31 points. In comparison, the UAE and Qatar rank fourth and fifth respectively worldwide in the rent index, and eighth and ninth respectively in the cost of living plus rent index, putting them higher than Kuwait when rent is factored in.
As for other statistics, Kuwait recorded 81.88 points in the groceries index (ninth worldwide), 45.79 points in the restaurants index (44th) and 69.68 in the local purchasing power index (46th). Furthermore, the index indicates that the cost of living in Kuwait is 1.60 percent higher than in the United States, while the rent in Kuwait is 7.65 percent lower than in the US (on average).
Numbeo gathers its data through crowdsourcing - a specific sourcing model in which individuals or organizations use contributions from Internet users to obtain needed services or ideas. In addition to cost of living, it records consumer and property prices, crime rates, healthcare quality, quality of life, as well as pollution, traffic, and travel statistics.