Cost of Living Comparison: USA vs. Asian Countries

The research firm CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets has recently released an interesting study on the cost of living among various countries in Asia and the USA, the UK.

The chart below shows the Purchasing Power Parity of various currencies against the US dollar:

Click to enlarge

It costs 40% less to buy a basket of the same goods in Indonesia than in the US. However in Australia, Japan, Singapore and the UK it would cost more than a dollar for the same goods. The basket of goods used in this study are listed in the chart below.

The US $ price comparison of a basket of goods in different markets:

In the chart above, we can see that electronics goods and food items are cheaper in the USA than any other country. FOr example, an Apple i-pod costs $149 in the US compared to $170 in UK, $208 in India and $200 in Japan.

However monthly broadband internet costs $40 in the US, the second costliest in the chart.Asian countries generally have cheaper internet services with just $17 in Singapore and $18 in Thailand for the broadband connection.

The Toyota Camry costs the cheapest in USA. In Singapore, the same car costs more than 3 times the US price at $66,000+.

For more details checkout: Finally, A Sensible Cost Of Living Study – An Important Posting

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