Africa is the third largest and second most populous continent of the world. Even Africa has abundant natural resources, it is the world’s poorest continent. There are several factors that may have caused this, for example frequent tribal and military conflict, corrupt governments, failed central planning, high levels of illiteracy, human rights violations, lack of access to foreign capital etc. This does not mean that all the African countries are poor, because in some of them the quality of life is very good.
There are many people, who are thinking to move to Africa continent for living. Before moving to Africa continent, it is important to take in consideration the most important objective and subjective factors during the decision-making. One of the most important factors is definitely the cost of living and in this work, we are going to compare the cost of living (excl. rent) and cost of living plus rent in some of the African countries with the cost of living in New York City.
In all the African countries, considered in this work, the cost of living (excl. rent) and cost of living plus rent are lower than in NYC. If we consider cost of living index (excl. rent), the most expensive country in Africa is Mauritius, followed by Zimbabwe, Ghana, Namibia and South Africa, but if we consider cost of living plus rent index the rank changes. Ghana is the most expensive country, followed by Mauritius, Zimbabwe, Namibia and Nigeria.
Egypt is in the penultimate place in cost of living (excl. rent) ranking and cost of living plus rent ranking. Tunisia is the cheapest country in Africa in both of them.
About the data used in this work
Cost of living index (excl. rent) is a relative indicator of consumer goods prices. It includes groceries, restaurants, transportation and utilities, but it does not include accommodation expenses such as rent or mortgage. Cost of living plus rent index includes consumer goods prices and the rent.
These indices are relative to New York City, so it means that for NYC, each index should be 100%. If another country or city has, for example, cost of living index plus rent of 145, it means that on an average in that country or city cost of living plus rent is 45% more expensive than in NYC. If a country or a city has, a cost of living plus rent index of 45 that means on an average in that country or city cost of living plus rent is 45% less expensive than in NYC.
The data used in this work are provided by Numbeo and are relating to 2019.