Cost of Living Survey / Mercer Indicator....
Okay I have a question for everyone? I was taking a look at the recent cost of living index published by Mercer for 2009 and much to my dismay noticed that Dubai, Doha etc are not listed.....
Moscow is officially ranked at top place, and I can vouch for that....I lived there. But what amazes me, is that I truly believe Qatar is more expensive.
I wanted to aske everyone to voice their opinions and submit what you think the following costs. Do this by copying & pasting the following 6 criteria and putting your amount after. I will then do a comparative and see what comes up. These are criteria that Mercer have used:
1: Rent of a luxury two bedroom unfurnished apartment (per month):
2: Bus or subway ride:
3: Music CD:
4: 1 issue of international daily newspaper:
5: 1 cup of coffee, including service:
6: Fast food hamburger meal:
is that it? any more ?
Interesting research, nice idea.
How does the mercer research account for the sudden change in exchange rates between countries? I assume they convert everything to USD for comparison, which will mean a lot of cities will have significantly changed position lately. For example, GBP has dropped from 2 to 1.5 USD, which is a change of 25%. That would shoot London up the list (though I expect it was right near the top already).
I think the prices posted already for stuff in Doha are pretty close to correct. Before the GBP weakened most things in Doha were cheaper than London (with perhaps the exception of rent). But now things are closer to what I used to pay in London. Fast food is still cheaper here though!
1: Rent of a luxury two bedroom unfurnished apartment (per month): 10,000 QAR
2: Bus or subway ride: 25 QAR
3: Music CD: 99 QAR - ITunes 60QAR
4: 1 issue of international daily newspaper: Hmm.. Online?
5: 1 cup of coffee, including service: 30 QAR
6: Fast food hamburger meal: 30 QAR
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Heard your wife left you,
How upset you must be.
But don't fret about it...
She moved in with me.
So far doing well, keep it up. Will post up results when i think we have enough to make a comparison. :)
If we can compile enough data, I will send an e-mail to Mercer and then maybe next year we'll see Doha on the list, hopefully.
1: Rent of a luxury two bedroom unfurnished apartment (per month): 10,000 QAR
2: Bus or subway ride:I think you mean transportation: 30 QAR
3: Music CD: 100 QAR
4: 1 issue of international daily newspaper: 10 QAR
5: 1 cup of coffee, including service: 30 QAR
6: Fast food hamburger meal: 30 QAR
Rent of a LUXURY two bedroom unfurnished apartment (per month): QR 16,000+
2: Bus or subway ride: ?
3: Music CD: QR60.
4: 1 issue of international daily newspaper: they have them here???
5: 1 cup of coffee, QR 10 plain coffee
6: Fast food hamburger meal: meal QR 15
1: Rent of a luxury two bedroom unfurnished apartment (per month): How could it be luxury if its unfurnished?
2: Bus or subway ride: No subway in Doha.
3: Music CD: Around QR60. $11-14 at iTunes.
4: 1 issue of international daily newspaper: I usually don't buy any hard copy.
5: 1 cup of coffee, including service: from QR24 (Starbucks)to QR40 (Hotels).
6: Fast food hamburger meal: No hamburgers please?
cheers,
paul
1: Rent of a luxury two bedroom unfurnished apartment (per month): 10,000
2: Bus or subway ride: QR 3
3: Music CD: havent bought one here
4: 1 issue of international daily newspaper: QR 2-3
5: 1 cup of coffee, including service: QR 20
6: Fast food hamburger meal: QR 24
_________________
veni, vidi, vici.
1: Rent of a luxury two bedroom unfurnished apartment (per month):QR. 8000.00
2: Bus or subway ride:Qr. 3
3: Music CD:60
4: 1 issue of international daily newspaper:Qr. 3
5: 1 cup of coffee, including service:QR.10
6: Fast food hamburger meal: Qr. 22
1: Rent of a luxury two bedroom unfurnished apartment (per month):QR. 7000.00
2: Bus or subway ride:Qr. 3
3: Music CD:??
4: 1 issue of international daily newspaper:Qr. 2
5: 1 cup of coffee, including service:QR.21
6: Fast food hamburger meal: Qr. 20
1: Rent of a luxury two bedroom unfurnished apartment (per month):11,000 QR
2: Bus or subway ride: ?
3: Music CD:65QR
4: 1 issue of international daily newspaper: ?
5: 1 cup of coffee, including service:7QR
6: Fast food hamburger meal:19QR
Okay, now I did this without checking, and only guessing. I will edit is later....but I wanted to show what I mean by copy and paste.....