Friday, June 22, 2007

Cost of Living in Taipei Down ... WAY DOWN!

A new survey of the costliest cities to live in Moscow has topped again for the second year in a row.

What was remarkable was that,
"Eight Asian cities made the top 50, though Taipei, Taiwan, plunged 20 places to No. 48."
msnbc

So what does this mean? Well it's cheap to buy the necessities of life in Taipei. Would anyone really argue with this? I mean, fast food is dirt cheap at between NT$50 and NT$120. Taxi rides are a song, the meter starting at NT$70. The minimum fare for a bus ride is NT$16.

Having fun here is super cheap too. The Palace Museum is a paltry NT$160. NT$60 for Taipei Zoo! Imagine that!

I can also remember telling my parents about our house loan that currently hovers around a rate of 2%. Canada's mortgage rates is hovering around 7%!!!

Is there some deeper meaning to Taipei's drop in costliness? Well, you might be able to argue that it has something to do with current currency exchange rates making goods cheaper. However, it could be due to Taipei losing its edge in desirability amongst the other cities.

People living here in Taipei of course know better. The city services and feel have improved a lot since the 1990s. Locals like to throw around the word 'convenient'. Convenient and cheap, fun, easy and affordable, all these come to mind. We love Taipei for all these reasons!

I include the results of the survey for your perusal...

The 50 priciest cities in the world, according to the cost of items including housing, transportation, food, clothing, household goods and entertainment:
1. Moscow
2. London
3. Seoul, South Korea
4. Tokyo
5. Hong Kong
6. Copenhagen, Denmark
7. Geneva
8. Osaka, Japan
9. Zurich, Switzerland
10. Oslo, Norway
11. Milan, Italy
12. St. Petersburg, Russia
13. Paris
14. Singapore
15. New York
16. Dublin, Ireland
17. Tel Aviv, Israel
18. Rome
19. Vienna, Austria
20. Beijing
21. Sydney, Australia
22. Helsinki, Finland
23. Stockholm, Sweden
24. Douala, Cameroon
25. Amsterdam, Netherlands
26. Madrid, Spain and Shanghai, China
28. Kiev, Ukraine
29. Athens, Greece
30. Almaty, Kazakhstan
31. (tie) Barcelona, Spain
31. (tie) Bratislava, Slovak Republic
33. Dakar, Senegal
34. Dubai, United Arab Emirates
35. Abidjan, Ivory Coast
36. Glasgow, United Kingdom
37. Lagos, Nigeria
38. Istanbul, Turkey
39. Munich, Germany
40. Frankfurt, Germany
41. Birmingham, United Kingdom
42. Los Angeles
43. Luxembourg
44. Brussels, Belgium
45. (tie) Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
45. (tie) Berlin
45. (tie) Dusseldorf, Germany
48. Taipei, Taiwan
49. Prague, Czech Republic
50. Algiers, Algeria
Source: Mercer Human Resource Consulting

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