Beirut The Most expensive city in Arab World

[Lebanese_N_Proud]

http://money.cnn.com/2005/06/21/pf/c...ex.htm?cnn=yes

Cleared by Moderator

Source: Mercer Human Resource Consulting, 2005 Cost-of-Living Survey


Quite surprising, 144 cities surveyed. Thought Beirut would be somewhere higher up. I guess a 1$ dollar Shawarma balances out with a 10$ cocktail at a club.


1 Tokyo, Japan
2 Osaka, Japan
3 London, United Kingdom
4 Moscow, Russia
5 Seoul, South Korea
6 Geneva, Switzerland
7 Zurich, Switzerland
8 Copenhagen, Denmark
9 Hong Kong, Hong Kong
10 Oslo, Norway
11 Milan, Italy
12 Paris, France
13 New York City, United States
13 Dublin, Ireland
15 St. Petersburg, Russia
16 Vienna, Austria
17 Rome, Italy
18 Stockholm, Sweden
19 Beijing, China
20 Sydney, Australia
20 Helsinki, Finland
22 Douala, Cameroon
22 Istanbul, Turkey
24 Amsterdam, Netherlands
24 Budapest, Hungary
26 Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire
27 Warsaw, Poland
28 Prague, Czech Republic
29 Taipei, Taiwan
30 Shanghai, China
31 Bratislava, Slovak Republic
32 Dusseldorf, Germany
33 Luxembourg, Luxembourg
34 Singapore, Singapore
34 Frankfurt, Germany
36 Dakar, Senegal
37 Munich, Germany
38 Berlin, Germany
39 Tel Aviv, Israel
40 Glasgow, United Kingdom
41 Athens, Greece
41 Brussels, Belgium
43 Barcelona, Spain
44 Los Angeles, United States
45 White Plains, United States
46 Madrid, Spain
47 Birmingham, United Kingdom
48 Zagreb, Croatia
49 Hamburg, Germany
50 Hanoi, Vietnam
50 San Francisco, United States
52 Chicago, United States
52 Beirut, Lebanon
54 Riga, Latvia
54 Kiev, Ukraine
56 Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam
57 Miami, United States
58 Algiers, Algeria
59 Casablanca, Morocco
60 Tallin, Estonia
61 Lyon, France
61 Honolulu, United States
63 Shenzhen, China
64 Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
65 Guangzhou, China
66 Lisbon, Portugal
67 Amman, Jordan
68 Melbourne, Australia
69 Auckland, New Zealand
70 Houston, United States
71 Jakarta, Indonesia
72 Kuwait City, Kuwait
73 Dubai, United Arab Emirates
74 San Juan, Puerto Rico
75 Almaty, Kazakhstan
76 Wellington, New Zealand
76 Ljubljana, Slovenia
78 Washington, D.C., United States
79 Boston, United States
80 Morristown, United States
81 Sofia, Bulgaria
82 Toronto, Canada
83 Atlanta, United States
84 Brisbane, Australia
85 Leipzig, Germany
86 Manama, Bahrain
87 Vancouver, Canada
88 Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
89 Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
89 Adelaide, Australia
91 Vilnius, Lithuania
91 Accra, Ghana
93 Perth, Australia
94 Denver, United States
95 Mexico City, Mexico
96 Lagos, Nigeria
97 Cairo, Egypt
98 Calgary, Canada
99 Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
100 Limassol, Cyprus
101 Detroit, United States
102 St. Louis, United States
103 Seattle, United States
103 Bucharest, Romania
105 Kingston, Jamaica
105 Mumbai, India
107 Montreal, Canada
108 Guatemala City, Guatemala
109 Cleveland, United States
110 New Delhi, India
111 Pittsburgh, United States
112 Portland (Ore.), United States
113 Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei
114 Panama City, Panama
115 Monterrey, Mexico
116 Johannesburg, South Africa
117 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
118 Lima, Peru
119 Nairobi, Kenya
119 Winston Salem, United States
119 Sao Paulo, Brazil
122 Ottawa, Canada
123 Lusaka, Zambia
124 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
125 Bangkok, Thailand
126 Tunis, Tunisia
127 Dacca (Dhaka), Bangladesh
128 Santiago, Chile
129 Tehran, Iran
130 Blantyre, Malawi
131 Tianjin, China
132 Colombo, Sri Lanka
133 Bogota, Colombia
134 Harare, Zimbabwe
135 San Jose, Costa Rica
136 Karachi, Pakistan
137 Quito, Ecuador
138 Chennai (Madras), India
138 Caracas, Venezuela
140 Montevideo, Uruguay
141 Bangalore, India
142 Buenos Aires, Argentina
143 Manila, Philippines
144 Asuncion, Paraguay

[mia]

nice one
it will benifit me in my work

thanks

[Stan]

Are you sure Moscow is 4?? Thats weird

[confirm password]

As someone who has lived in Jeddah, Beirut and Montreal in that order:

Cost of living in Beirut is more expensive than Jeddah, KSA --> I agree

But Montreal, Canada is cheaper than Beirut and Jeddah according to this list? No freaking way Rez2allah 3ala eyyem Beirut ou Jeddah, everything is so expensive here in Mtl (rent, food, electricity, phone, clothes, you name it). The one thing I have found which is much less expensive than in Beirut is university tuition provided you are a Canadian citizen or resident (even cheaper if you are a Quebec resident and studying in Quebec- my entire BSc degree here, 3 years, cost just a little bit more than what I was paying at AUB for one year).

As for the free health care, well we are paying for it with taxes (there are taxes on everything) and it's a terrible system. The healthcare infrastructure in Canada is in desperate need of $$$$$$$$$ inflow.

[JoeFPM]

**** more expensive than Paris..ouf...here public toilets arent for free..we say
"tu déposes ton truc , et tu déposes de l'argent "

[Rubisco]

Confirm,
the cost of living in absolute terms might be more expensive in Montreal than Beirut, but when you take the average per capita income into consideration then Montreal is much cheaper (relatively) than Beirut. We might be naggy about the healthcare system or the education fee hikes but we still have a very sweet deal compared to most other western countries (just look at our southern neighbours for example); let alone third-world countries like Lebanon.

[PhoenixResurrection]

Beirut most expensive city in Arab world

Daily Star

Jul 1, 2005

BEIRUT: Beirut, a new study says, is now the most expensive city in the Arab world.

The only city more expensive in the Middle East and North Africa region is Tel Aviv, Israel. Rapidly expanding finance hub Dubai is the eighth most expensive city. Beirut ranks number 52 in the world.

The cheapest major city in the Middle East and North Africa is Tehran, Iran, which ranks number 129 in the world out of 144 cities surveyed.

U.A.E. cities such as Dubai and Abu Dhabi have risen in the rankings due to a housing crunch that has pushed rents up.

Worldwide, the most expensive city is Tokyo and the cheapest Asuncion, Paraguay.

The study, by London-based Mercer Human Resource Consulting, considers cost of living factors such as utilities, transportation, rent, sport and leisure, restaurants, and alcohol and tobacco.

Compared to New York, the study's reference city, Beirut's prices are the highest in sports and leisure and unfurnished house renting.

Thanks to rising investment in real estate from the Gulf, a luxury apartment in Downtown Beirut can cost as much as $4 million.

High costs are also the constant lament of Lebanese businessmen, who say they can't compete with neighbors when electricity, telephone lines, and other utilities are vastly more expensive here.

"The prices continue to increase and we can't do anything about it," said Zuhair Berro, president of Consumer Lebanon. "Cellular costs are among the highest in the world. Electricity and water are the highest in the region."

At $0.44 a minute, Lebanon's pre-paid mobile phone rates are the highest in the Arab world. Electricity cost per kilowatt hour are more than three times the cost in neighboring Jordan and Syria.

Berro said he plans to submit a letter to the newly elected Parliament asking that reforms in key state-owned sectors such as electricity and telecommunications be accelerated.

"The government uses these services to expand their budget," Berro said. "We need competition in all the sectors."

[Bull05]

Berro said he plans to submit a letter to the newly elected Parliament asking that reforms in key state-owned sectors such as electricity and telecommunications be accelerated.

Is this guy dreaming or what??????

May be he doesn't know yet that HE Fouad Mantoura is on his way to be prime minister:

Definitely we will have deduction in taxes!!!!!!!

[lebanon4ever]

hehe,we went out,a group of guys from the company to eat suchi.we were three,me and two foreigners.We paid about 134$ for the dinner.My friend was surprised,he told me at Istanbull,turkey,they had a very good meal ,for two persons for about 21 $ only.
You may see the difference from this simple exemple here.
Lebanon needs a long way before it becomes again the leading country in the area.You see Jordan,for instance,has facilitated everything for the investors,in order to attract them and open new companies in Amman,SO lebanon needs a big big study,we cannot always relie on tourists,we need new companies,that can work and open here,thus giving work opportunities for guys and helping in the lebanese economy.

[Lebanese_N_Proud]

The good news is that there're 51 cities around the world more expensive than Beirut. Atleast we dont have a tobacco tax. Always a positive you know.....



There's a similar thread with the entire list of cities.


http://www.lfpm.org/forum/showthread.php?t=5607