Last weekend, Youthful Cities, an international urban cultural movement organization, released such a global ranking of “cost-effectiveness of life” cities. The index is obtained by Youthful Cities after nearly 10 months of surveying 65 major cities around the world. The specific indicators are based on the cost of living of young people. A total of 75 people in the survey team conducted a survey on 16 categories and 80 global indicators, and reached a final conclusion.
In the list announced this time, Youthful Cities uses 9 indicators as examples, including minimum wage, movie tickets, rent, eggs, public transportation, hamburgers, flights, taxes, concerts and other consumption data. The 25 cities with the highest cost of living. Paris, Toronto and Los Angeles ranked top three, and Shanghai became the only city in China on the list, ranking 22nd on the list.
A total of 4 cities in the United States on the list, namely Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas and New York, became the big winners of this list. In addition to Shanghai, the Asian cities on the list include Tokyo, Seoul, Mumbai and Manila.
The Specific Rankings of these 25 Cities are as Follows:
1. Paris 2. Toronto 3. Los Angeles 4. Chicago 5. Berlin
6. Dallas 7. Rome 8. New York 9. Tokyo 10. London
11. Seoul 12. Buenos Aires 13. Istanbul 14. Cairo 15. Johannesburg
16. Bogota 17. Lima 18. Mumbai 19. Lagos 20. Sao Paulo
21. Manila 22. Shanghai 23. Mexico City 24. Nairobi 25. Kinshasa
Indicator 1: Minimum Wage
The reason why Parisians live the most unrestrained life is directly related to their wages. According to survey data from Youthful Cities, the hourly minimum wage (minimum hourly wage) in Paris is US$12.84. Due to inflation, the French government raised the national minimum wage to this level on July 1, 2012, but there are still many Parisians who say that the money is not enough to spend. This is also related to the continuous decline in the employment rate in France in recent years.
The lowest hourly wage in Berlin, Germany, is second only to Paris, at US$11.86; Rome, Italy ranks third, with a lowest hourly wage of US$11.12; Tokyo, Japan has a lowest hourly wage of US$10.20, ranking fourth, leading all Asian and American cities. Compared with the “high salaries” of European cities, the top cities in the United States are much lower, and Chicago, the highest, is only $8.25.
Indicator 2: Movie Ticket Prices
According to statistics, global movie box office revenue in 2013 was 36 billion U.S. dollars, and Chinese movie fans contributed 10% of it, reaching 3.6 billion U.S. dollars. In this item, Youthful Cities uses time as a unit and calculates how many hours it takes to work in the city to afford a movie ticket at the lowest hourly wage.
The first place in Rome can watch a movie with 0.92 hours of work, 0.94 hours and 1 hour in Berlin and Paris respectively. The six cities in North America on the list are between 1.27 hours and 1.86 hours. Shanghai is “excellent” in this list. It takes 9.72 hours to work to watch a movie, ranking fourth from the bottom on the list.
The two African cities, Kinshasa and Nairobi, ranked at the bottom of the list. They had to work 47.37 hours and 49.59 hours respectively before they could afford to watch a movie, which turned the movie, a popular entertainment project, into a luxury and high consumption in the local area.
Indicator 3: Rent
The rent indicators calculated by Youthful Cities also use time as a unit, and use the city’s minimum hourly wage as the standard to calculate how many hours a month needs to work to afford the monthly rent. Berlin, Germany topped the list with 115 hours of laughter, Rome and Chicago ranked second and third with 185 hours and 189 hours respectively.
Berlin’s low housing prices make the world envy
Germany’s low housing prices are well known around the world. Compared to London, the world’s most expensive place, Berlin’s housing prices are only one-tenth of that. The German government has adopted high taxes to combat speculative housing and other regulatory measures, which are the main factors for low housing prices. At present, the German self-owned housing rate is only 42%, the rental housing rate has reached 58%, and 77% of young people under the age of 35 are Renters. The perfect housing rental market also plays a good role in ensuring the stability of German housing prices.
Indicator 4: Egg Price
In the price of eggs, Berlin also tops the list. In Berlin, you only need to work 0.23 hours to afford a dozen (12) eggs. Chicago and Tokyo rank second and third behind Berlin on the “Egg List”, with 0.26 hours and 0.29 hours respectively. The people of Shanghai need to work 1.70 hours to afford a dozen eggs.
Indicator 5: Public Transportation Costs
In the public transportation classification list, the object of the Youthful Cities survey is the public transportation cards available in almost every international metropolis. Can I work for a few hours and can afford a month’s public transport card fee?
The answer given by Argentina for the first time in Buenos Aires is: As long as 2.62 hours, this South American metropolis has become the cheapest city in the world for public transportation. Second place Rome and third place Los Angeles have 4.04 hours and 5.63 hours respectively, far behind Buenos Aires.
The Buenos Aires subway system is the oldest urban rail transit system in Latin American countries. The first subway station in Buenos Aires was completed in 1913. At present, the entire subway network is 46km long, with 80 subway stations, and the annual passenger capacity is about 250 million people.
The subway fare in Buenos Aires is fixed, and the fare is 1.10 pesos (approximately US$0.13). In addition, public transportation such as buses, taxis and trains in Buenos Aires are also very convenient, and the prices are much cheaper than other metropolises.
Indicator 6: Hamburg Prices
People all over the world are keen on fast food, so which city is the cheapest fast food? There is no doubt that it is Berlin, Germany, and if you use McDonald’s all over the world as a price measure, you want to eat a Big Mac. Berliners only It takes 0.69 hours of work to be able to afford it. Paris and Chicago followed closely with 0.70 and 0.72 hours respectively. The data for several other European and American cities on the list are around 0.8-1 hour.
Indicator Seven: Air Ticket Price
Which city has the cheapest airfare? The answer given by Youthful Cities is Istanbul, Turkey. Istanbul itself is a famous tourist city, and traveling from here to other cities abroad, the average fare only needs local people to work for 13.65 hours and can afford it. Rome and Paris, ranked second and third, require 15.20 hours and 16.51 hours respectively.
Correspondingly, air tickets from abroad to Istanbul are not expensive, and Istanbul is considered the most suitable place to travel by air. The reason is simple. Istanbul not only has beautiful scenery and strong cultural atmosphere, but also the cost of vacation is extremely low.
Indicator 8: Consumption Tax
Consumption tax is one of the important criteria for measuring the cost of living in a city. Lagos, Nigeria’s largest port city, has a consumption tax of 5%, which is tied for top of the consumption tax list with Tokyo. The third place, Dallas, has a consumption tax of 8.25%, which is the lowest among European and American cities on the list.
The cities on the list with the highest consumption tax are Rome, Italy and Buenos Aires, Argentina. Both cities have a consumption tax of 21%. With a consumption tax of 17%, Shanghai ranks 17th on the list, ahead of Istanbul, Berlin, Paris and London. From this perspective, Shanghai can be regarded as a paradise for shoppers.