How is the cost of living in your country?

[Darker45]

I tell you, you are extremely lucky! If this is the first time that you felt the rising prices of goods and services after buying all those good stuff including chicken drumsticks for your dog, you are living the life! Mate, you are blessed there!

That kind of life is something many people could only wish for. From where I am, that chicken drumstick is not for the dog. The human eats the meat, the bone goes to the dog. And one tiny piece of chicken drumstick fried in used cooking oil is already worth 1 AUD.

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[Sebas.tian]

The cost of living is really affecting my country, and the price of food items has increased higher which is not easy for the people in the country to live well as before. The government is trying to do what will make the inflation to turn to deflation in the country, so that people in the country will start experiencing positive change in the price of food items in all communities in the land. I think, some governments will definitely get it right to end this inflation before the end of this year, because the cost of living is affecting majority countries in the world which they need to find solution to it before it collapse their economy.

[Sithara007]

Here in my country, inflation rate is much more when compared to others because the national currency is constantly losing its value. I will add a comparison for prices we had in 2003 and 2023 below:

200 sq.m residential plot: ₹25,000 in 2003, ₹4,000,000 in 2023.
Petrol price per liter: ₹33 in 2003, ₹107 in 2023.
Milk: ₹13 in 2003, ₹60 in 2023.
Potato: ₹10 in 2003, ₹55 in 2023.
Rice: ₹9 in 2003, ₹40 in 2023.

As you can see, inflation for the last two decades have been in the range of 4x to 6x for the essentials. But real estate prices have gone up by more than 100x.

[bakasabo]

Try to measure living cost with the number of bags filled with food you go out from the shop with. I remember that almost every week I came out from the shop with trolley completely filled with food. Now the food I need can be measured with one basket. Yes, now I pay more attention to food management. But I would not do it if the food prices were similar to what they were 10 years ago.

Dont forget that statistics you find in the Internet about cost of living usually is much different from real situation. Usually statistics show lowered data on human needs, and inflated data about average salary or earnings.

[kryptqnick]

My country isn't doing well economically, but it's completely understandable because we are literally at war right now (Ukrainian here). The prices for many staples are simply twice as high as a year ago, so yeah, a huge difference. For some products it's a 30-50% rise, and I think only things which used to already cost lots of money in some ways cost the same they used to. I think it's also important to not just look at the prices, but at the salaries as well, because that's what really matters. Average salary in the capital for a full-time job is $500, the minimum wage is $183.
A big advantage is that, as a highly agricultural country, we generally have very cheap veggies and some fruit. It's not the case with everything, but you can buy potatoes for $0.30/kg, carrots for $0.60/kg, onions for $1/kg. We also have very really cheap oyster (cluster) mushrooms, like $4/kg. But then a can (400g) of chopped tomatoes is almost $2, fresh peppers are $3.5-$5/kg, tomatoes are $2.20+/kg. Overall, it's not great, but not equally bad either, so you can get by without spending too much if you pay attention to prices and are willing to experiment with new ingredients.

[Smartprofit]

Cost of living would also relate to productive capability of that country, any of the global nations which has no access to oil or energy generally have to think smart and trade well not to be worse off.   Every time inflation rises it surely means anything we import is more expensive but the national produce of a country shouldn't be as affected imo.

especially groceries.

One of the big upsets from the war in Europe not foreseen was perhaps the disruption to fertilizer production and so the knock on effect to maybe a hundred different prices from that.   Reason being as I understand it is a large amount of nitrogen fertilizer production relies on cheap natural gas; entire lines of supply going missing in competition to a general lack of energy across Europe during winter was not a good atmosphere for production and export of this highly related good.  
  Theres more then one way to raise a crop and fertilizer it but we often want the easiest and cheapest route and this was stopped quite abruptly.   Plus Ukraine itself is a large global food market for the world and such a wide attack against civilians even stopped that, any lack of supply feeds inflation which was already a factor.    I think the easiest summary is complacency was common and it has cost us.

It's not just that fertilizer production depends on natural gas. 

Russia and Ukraine are the largest exporters of nitrogen fertilizers.  Currently, the export of nitrogen fertilizers from these countries has been stopped.  The disruption of logistics chains in the modern world leads to a deterioration in the standard of living in all countries. 

The problems began during the Covid-19 pandemic, but even after the situation with the disease improved, supply chains did not fully recover. 

The rejection of globalization is very costly for all of us.

[AbuBhakar]

Cost of living here in the Philippines is pretty cheap compared to other countries, but the salary and wages isn't on par with the price of goods. I live alone, have two jobs and live near the city. What I earn is more than enough for me and some other hobbies that I have. Total budget every month never exceeds $600, and that includes rent, bills, food, and gas for my car. However, the quality of the food I eat is a little compromised; I seldom have any greens on my food because of how crazy expensive they are here. Meat is somewhat cheap, and that is what's usually on the menu. Any other comforts in life, I can afford but choose not to because I'm trying to save and invest in order to retire early.

We are living in the same country but the only difference was I'm in the province. I'm a corporate worker in a company near my province and my salary is above minimum wage. My family has a small farm for fruits and vegetables so most of the time we have a free meal from our harvest. The cost of living here is very cheap and I have a job that can sustain my other financial needs. I don't have any other expenses except the bills since I don't like spending on lucrative things. I would say that we are blessed to live in our country and I'm very contented with what kind of life I have now. Simple living away from city stress is the best.

Many Filipino still choose to work overseas while the locals in that country are already complaining about their cost of living. This is what I don't understand in our country.

[iamsange]

I am a 32 year old male living in Australia.

Today I purchased some fresh fruit, a loaf of good bread, good quality milk and 2kg of chicken drumsticks for my German Shepherd (he eats human food only) and the cost was close to $50.

I feel this is the first time in my adult life I have genuinely noticed the rising cost of goods and services especially groceries.

Petrol is over $2.10 a litre and my water and electricity bills have also increased by about 15%.

I really feel bad for the elderly pensioners in this country. They are definitely struggling.

I would be curious to read of the experiences others around the world are having in regards to their cost of living.

Where I live it's still pretty cheap for groceries and services as $50 is enough to live on for five days if it's just by yourself. Because here, for the cost of daily meals without electricity and water bills, you can just have as much as $6 and that includes one liter of motor gasoline a day. So it's still cheaper here if I compare it to what you told me, even though I also feel the increase in food and service prices from last year until now, but I can still deal with it comfortably by continuing to work and make money so I can live without going hungry.

And maybe I wouldn't be able to live in Australia if the cost of living was that much because $50 is very precious money to me and I would be very grateful if I could make that much money in a day, because I can spend some of it on food and some of it on saving for brighter future. So I can't imagine the amount of spending there (Australia) with the amount of money I spend here on a daily basis.

[Tony116]

I tell you, you are extremely lucky! If this is the first time that you felt the rising prices of goods and services after buying all those good stuff including chicken drumsticks for your dog, you are living the life! Mate, you are blessed there!

That kind of life is something many people could only wish for. From where I am, that chicken drumstick is not for the dog. The human eats the meat, the bone goes to the dog. And one tiny piece of chicken drumstick fried in used cooking oil is already worth 1 AUD.

My family also has 2 dogs, and they have never eaten a chicken thigh or a piece of meat, we eat meat and they only eat bones and white rice. Although inflation persists, food and commodity prices are still high, but he can buy chickens for his dog, I don't think he will have a hard time in life. If with that 50 AUD in my country, we can take care of expenses for 1 week for my family of 3. It is true that there is a huge disparity between developed and third world countries.

[Yatsan]

Cheap if it would be compared with expenses in ither countries but expensive because of the minimum wage salary. Most of the people in my country are minimum wage earner which makes $3 for a meal, expensive already.  Well, the idea is the same with other countries wherein high marketable goods are being sold but is being compensted with high salary from different jobs. Inflation becomes a problem if the slary of an average family won't be able to cope up. So to put it simply, the weigh of cost of living within  country depends on the economic status as well as socil status of the citizens which are comparable with other countries. The difference with economic sttus of different countries creates different perspective of what 'expensive living' is.

[Bobrox]

Have advantage and disadvantage when comparison about cost of living, I don't think about your country has highest cost of living because seems there have highest cost for working and difference with my country. I know my country have cheapest about our daily day needed and spent under $2 have enough for break fast, launch and dinner.

You will surprise when I talk you about how much salary received by my country worker each mount still under $300, there are not any add on bonuses receive and high cost about transportation. For petrol price still under $1 but another thing with taxes have to pay more than 11% and each time eating on MCD we have to pay fees above 11%.

[Renampun]

...

I feel this is the first time in my adult life I have genuinely noticed the rising cost of goods and services especially groceries.

Petrol is over $2.10 a litre and my water and electricity bills have also increased by about 15%.

I really feel bad for the elderly pensioners in this country. They are definitely struggling.

I have never and don't really know the economic conditions in Australia but reading from your complaint, it seems the cost of living there is quite high, I also feel sorry for retirees if they have to spend that much to live in their old age, does the Australian government there is no special program for retirees?

I would be curious to read of the experiences others around the world are having in regards to their cost of living.

I live in Indonesia and the cost of living here is quite affordable in my opinion, a few hours ago I shopped at the supermarket for my weekly needs and I only spent a total of $30 for it (rice - milk - eggs - cooking oil - sugar - coffee). btw, my parents are retired teachers (they earn around $120 a month) and they live quite well because the monthly they get is enough to cover both of their living expenses.

[MoonOfLife]

Have advantage and disadvantage when comparison about cost of living, I don't think about your country has highest cost of living because seems there have highest cost for working and difference with my country. I know my country have cheapest about our daily day needed and spent under $2 have enough for break fast, launch and dinner.

You will surprise when I talk you about how much salary received by my country worker each mount still under $300, there are not any add on bonuses receive and high cost about transportation. For petrol price still under $1 but another thing with taxes have to pay more than 11% and each time eating on MCD we have to pay fees above 11%.

I also come from a poor country and what you are saying is also what is happening in my country, it only cost me 1 dollar for breakfast and 1 cup of coffee. While the income of workers in our country has not exceeded 250$/person, compared to OP's expenditure, the difference is clear. But we are not affected too much by inflation because we live in a remote rural area, we can raise our own livestock and grow crops.

[teosanru]

I am a 32 year old male living in Australia.

Today I purchased some fresh fruit, a loaf of good bread, good quality milk and 2kg of chicken drumsticks for my German Shepherd (he eats human food only) and the cost was close to $50.

I feel this is the first time in my adult life I have genuinely noticed the rising cost of goods and services especially groceries.

Petrol is over $2.10 a litre and my water and electricity bills have also increased by about 15%.

I really feel bad for the elderly pensioners in this country. They are definitely struggling.

I would be curious to read of the experiences others around the world are having in regards to their cost of living.

I am really surprised to see people not experiencing inflation since so many years. It's a concept taught in almost all the schools it's not just in theory and in countries like Australia it has always been there. I understand that this time it was slightly more vigorous and steep. But still why are people waking up for the first time to see inflation we saw the same during 2008 crash as well so it's not new definitely and smart people always plan for it that's why they say to invest in asset giving returns more than inflation.

[Cookdata]

I am a 32 year old male living in Australia.

Today I purchased some fresh fruit, a loaf of good bread, good quality milk and 2kg of chicken drumsticks for my German Shepherd (he eats human food only) and the cost was close to $50.

I feel this is the first time in my adult life I have genuinely noticed the rising cost of goods and services especially groceries.

Petrol is over $2.10 a litre and my water and electricity bills have also increased by about 15%.

I really feel bad for the elderly pensioners in this country. They are definitely struggling.

I would be curious to read of the experiences others around the world are having in regards to their cost of living.

If only there was a way for me to go back in time to when I could buy a crate of eggs (usually 30 pieces) for less than a dollar, now it has 5x in my country, you need nothing less than $5 to buy a crate of eggs, things are so expensive in the sense that the money we earn these days is below minimum wage, you can't do anything tangible the very moment you receive your paycheck, and it is killing the citizens, this recession is not limited to some countries, it is worldwide.

Inflation began when we went under absolute lockdown, and it is still going on right now even after everywhere is opened. The stock market is a testimony that we are all screwed from that time, but it appears that we were all misled by the 2021 market pump, or should I say recovery, that everyone hyped so hard.

[mvdheuvel1983]

Globally, the cost of living is ever increasing. I already have a plan to reduce my cost of living in the next 5 years. I will build a house and move from a rented apartment to my own home.
I will also install solar panel to provide me electricity I plan on having a large garden too to grow some vegetables. In doing so, I believe my monthly costs of living will have reduced.

[noorman0]

$5 per today's rate for the medium lifestyle.
I live in an agrarian environment with a higher number of casual daily laborers than farmers. They have an average income of only $3 or less and they can make ends meet in several alternative ways by living in crowds. Giving each other several portions of lunch between neighbors is a common thing in my environment.

[iv4n]

Globally, the cost of living is ever increasing...

Exactly... and I don't think it will stop increasing in the near future.

I already have a plan to reduce my cost of living in the next 5 years. I will build a house and move from a rented apartment to my own home.
I will also install solar panel to provide me electricity I plan on having a large garden too to grow some vegetables. In doing so, I believe my monthly costs of living will have reduced.

As a house owner, with a large garden and chickens (my daughter insisted to buy chickens, and some other animals as well, but that is postponed) I can only say "good luck in trying to reduce the cost of living"!

House and a big yard mean a lot of work and a lot of investments. My house is finished, but the yard is not... so much more needs to be done and for sure some things I will do by myself (in which case I need tools (I bought many, but still far from what I really need) or I will higher workers (for some works definitely, along with some heavy machinery), in either way I need materials that costs more than double compared with the prices from 5-6 years ago when I moved in this house and started investing in it.

And growing/keeping animals costs as well, and you just and one more thing on your "to-do" list! But at least you know what you are eating, unlike what we buy today in all those markets, who knows what they are mixing!

[Adbitco]

Menhh talking of cost of living I can attest to you over here that is very expensive, most at times we find it difficult to cope with which I believe this is not only in my country but as a general issues all over the globe.
To feed my family and my entire household this including ( I, my wife and baby, my mother, and 6 siblings) cost me about $250 per month while before it was around $90 to $100 but currently the price surges to what I can't explain.

1. A bag of rice 50kg is around $60 to $70 or more this was a result unstable in price.
2. 4 litrs of cooking old (Groundnuts old) around $8
3. A bag of Beans 25kg around $40 or more
4. A basket of irish pepper is $10
5. Tomatoes paste a carton is $7
6. A 12kg of cooking gas $15
7. Palm oil (Red oil) 4 litres $7.5
8. Spices around $2 to $6.
9. Petrol (Fuel or gas) a litre $0.7
10. 1kg of Frozen chicken $3.5
11. 1kg of fresh fish is $2

Although all this I do buy them in bulk to limit random expenses., Most of this could serve for about a month plus or so. I make sure I don't spend above $180 to $250 maximum.

[Leviathan.007]

Cost of leaving in my country depends on location and lifestyle. Food items are relatively cheap in rural areas because most farms are located there. Also the cost of housing and other basic needs are relatively cheap in rural areas. The urban area of my country is very expensive due to overpopulation and inadequate basic amenities. But the rural area lacks employment opportunities that might be available in urban areas.

Currently our currency have lost so much value and there is a massive rise in the price of goods. Now people have to seek for alternative source of income because a single job might not be able to pay ones bills. The price of fuel have skyrocketed which has led to an increase in the price of other commodities. Mot businesses have closed down leading to high rate of unemployment which has also increased crime. Most families now eat twice or once a day just because our currency have lost so much purchasing power thereby making salaries and wages worthless. But I think with $700 per month, a family of 5 can be able to survive.

There is the same situation for every country because the cost of living in any country depends on the lifestyle and the location of the living, for example in my country you can just eat food from home and try to use the cheap stuff and don't buy the unnecessary things also if you live on a cheap area where you won't pay lots of money for rent and you can also find cheaper products in the location the cost of living will be lower than 15 dollars but if you try to have a luxury life the living cost will raise high unlimitedly.