Il 7abeh bi Leira!
So it’s official for this year too; Amman is more expensive than Riyadh, Dubai, Casablance, Kuwait city, Doha, Cairo, and Jeddah, making it the most expensive city in the Arab world for the second year in a row.
It is more expensive than Johannesburg, Atlanta, Cleveland, Rio de Janeiro, and Budapest. It is just a little less expensive than Pittsburgh, Seattle, Prague, and Boston.
I’m not even 22 yet and I remember clearly when an icecream scoop at Frosti’s was for 15 ersh. Now it’s for 85 ershs.
Rank (last year) City COUNTRY Index
1 (1) Oslo Norway 132
2 (4) Paris France 130
3 (6) Copenhagen Denmark 126
4 (7) London UK 125
5 (2) Tokyo Japan 124
6 (4) Osaka Kobe Japan 118
6 (3) Reykjavik Iceland 118
6 (8) Zurich Switzerland 118
9 (12) Frankfurt Germany 116
9 (10) Helsinki Finland 116
11 (13) Seoul South Korea 115
12 (9) Geneva Switzerland 112
12 (11) Vienna Austria 112
14 (16) Milan Italy 108
14 (24) Singapore Singapore 108
16 (14) Hong Kong Hong Kong 107
16 (14) Munich Germany 107
18 (19) Berlin Germany 106
18 (16) Sydney Australia 106
20 (21) Brussels Belgium 104
20 (16) Dublin Ireland 104
20 (n/a) Nouméa New Caledonia 104
20 (21) Stockholm Sweden 104
24 (19) Melbourne Australia 103
25 (24) Lyon France 102
26 (23) Amsterdam Netherlands 101
26 (29) Moscow Russia 101
28 (27) New York US 100
29 (27) Düsseldorf Germany 99
29 (26) Manchester UK 99
31 (35) Barcelona Spain 98
31 (31) Rome Italy 98
33 (35) Madrid Spain 97
34 (32) Hamburg Germany 96
34 (43) Vancouver Canada 96
36 (35) Chicago US 95
36 (40) Luxembourg Luxembourg 95
36 (43) Montreal Canada 95
39 (35) Los Angeles US 94
40 (35) Perth Australia 93
41 (32) Brisbane Australia 92
41 (40) San Francisco US 92
43 (47) Toronto Canada 90
44 (40) Abidjan Cote d’Ivoire 89
44 (52) St Petersburg Russia 89
44 (46) Washington, DC US 89
47 (45) Adelaide Australia 88
47 (48) Houston US 88
47 (52) Tel Aviv Israel 88
50 (29) Auckland New Zealand 87
51 (51) Shanghai China 86
51 (32) Wellington New Zealand 86
53 (48) Istanbul Turkey 85
53 (48) Taipei Taiwan 85
55 (54) Athens Greece 84
55 (54) Miami US 84
55 (54) Minneapolis US 84
55 (58) Prague Czech Rep 84
59 (63) Lagos Nigeria 83
59 (58) Lisbon Portugal 83
61 (58) Detroit US 82
61 (58) Seattle US 82
63 (58) Beijing China 80
63 (63) Boston US 80
63 (67) Guatemala City Guatemala 80
63 (63) Pittsburgh US 80
63 (63) Warsaw Poland 80
68 (67) Dakar Senegal 79
68 (71) Dalian China 79
68 (57) Mexico City Mexico 79
71 (69) Lexington US 78
72 (70) Amman Jordan 77
73 (100) Jakarta Indonesia 76
73 (91) Lusaka Zambia 76
75 (75) Shenzhen China 75
76 (71) Guangzhou China 74
77 (74) Cleveland US 73
77 (75) Honolulu US 73
79 (80) Casablanca Morocco 72
79 (71) Dubai UAE 72
79 (82) Kiev Ukraine 72
79 (87) Rio de Janeiro Brazil 72
79 (87) Sao Paulo Brazil 72
84 (81) Atlanta US 71
85 (82) Abu Dhabi UAE 70
85 (n/a) Suzhou China 70
87 (84) Bogota Columbia 69
88 (87) Doha Qatar 68
88 (95) Kuala Lumpur Malaysia 68
88 (93) Nairobi Kenya 68
88 (84) Santiago Chile 68
92 (107) Bangkok Thailand 67
92 (107) Belgrade Serbia & Montenegro 67
92 (77) Budapest Hungary 67
92 (91) Ho Chi Minh Vietnam 67
96 (84) Bahrain Manama Bahrain 66
96 (95) Bucharest Romania 66
98 (87) Riyadh Saudi Arabia 65
98 (95) Tianjin China 65
100 (77) Johannesburg South Africa 64
100 (77) Pretoria South Africa 64
100 (n/a) Qingdao China 64
103 (106) Bandar Seri Begawan Brunei 63
103 (95) Kuwait City Kuwait 63
103 (93) Muscat Oman 63
106 (104) Hanoi Vietnam 62
106 (100) Montevideo Uruguay 62
106 (100) Quito Ecuador 62
109 (100) Jeddah Saudi Arabia 61
109 (95) Panama City Panama 61
111 (104) Al Khobar Saudi Arabia 60
111 (117) Almaty Kazakhstan 60
111 (107) Lima Peru 60
111 (110) Sofia Bulgaria 60
115 (111) Phnom Penh Cambodia 59
116 (113) Cairo Egypt 58
116 (113) Colombo Sri Lanka 58
118 (112) Caracas Venezuela 57
118 (115) Damascus Syria 57
120 (117) Buenos Aires Argentina 54
120 (117) Tashkent Uzbekistan 54
122 (120) San Jose Costa Rica 53
123 (115) Algiers Algeria 52
124 (124) Asuncion Paraguay 51
125 (121) Dhaka Bangladesh 46
126 (n/a) Kathmandu Nepal 45
126 (122) New Delhi India 45
126 (122) Tripoli Libya 45
129 (126) Karachi Pakistan 44
129 (124) Mumbai India 44
131 (127) Manila Philippines 43
132 (128) Tehran Iran 34
[Source: The Economist’s EIU Worldwide Cost of Living Survey]
(45)
SomeOne
March 9, 2007 @ 4:44 pm
Ok this is really nice to read.
I can tell you my experience and what I lived in some cities.
1st in Amman 5 years ago, it was not so bad I could do everything I wanted.
2nd in Madrid 3 years ago, it’s crazy my God I had to work a lot and never get everything I had in mined, even I have to say it’s full of adventure and cultural things to see every single second but there are no physical time for anything.
3rd in Lisbon it’s 1 year ago, so expensive, when want to do anything you have to pay a lot.
4th In Prague 5 months ago, so cheep, you can live the best way and do lots of things, being a student there is the best places in the world, cultural and musical life free and so close.
Every one lives in a place get a deferent way for his or her live, depend on what you do? And you needs? For me the best place to live was Prague I can go to Opera with 1 Euro and this is nothing and as student of philosophy and art it’s free, pulse there are a big number of art schools where you can see a lot of presentations, in ballet they are the best. The transport with trams, bus and undergrounds is just perfecta and very cheep.
Which in all the other places the transport was expensive or very bad like Amman, the cultural life in poor we can comparing with Prague.
Where I visited and can say nice, cheep you can enjoy a lovely and unique feeling Warsaw, Budapest and Bucharest, it’s normal they don’t have the Euro yet and that make them cheep and they have got a long history of art and philosophy, as well as Istanbul is nice and cheep. London and Berlin and Vienna are places where you have to visit because they are very mean full for Europe but expensive, Paris no one can’t love it but no one can totally live in it just survive, Rome is expensive but it deserve be there, Cairo is nice and it’s one of my favourite.
After livening and looking a lot, Amman in nice and my home town where soon I will be and I am looking for it, but as student I can’t live there now, because I demand a lot of thing there aren’t, and the live if expensive there are no way to work and have my one places and the every where I lived I could do it work and live, to fly anywhere it’s a lot of money and not safe for hitchhiking, and the cultural life is very imitated.
God I writ a lot
nice work I am not sure your name Ruba, as I red, I get so use to see what you add here and your friend whom I think they have interesting way of thing as well as you, and I have to admit it’s get me good feeling to know that in Amman there are people like you :-)
Ozz
March 9, 2007 @ 5:19 pm
let the scoop be 85 2ersh or even one jd .. but is the average personal income proportional to this crazy increase?
is it reasonable establishing those qualified industrial zones (QIZ) in Jordan to manufacture different products for the international firms and markets? yes it reduced unemployment from an abstract point of view,,, but those are thousands of Jordanian workers employed for less than 100 JD’s per month to help international firms cutting labor cost and sell tax free products. prices are ascending fast … and salaries remain unchanged. it doesn’t just make it an expensive city .. but even rank it in low-vision-planned governments list. was that too long phrase? ok ..let’s just say low-governments list!
I’m not going to the jail tonight, am I ?!
omar
March 9, 2007 @ 6:44 pm
where’s Beirut fel mawdoo3?!!?!?
do you realise that Beirut is like super expensive?
sam
March 9, 2007 @ 7:02 pm
everything is so expensive, because arabs have this mentality that more expensive=better. shitty looking clothes in makah mall cost 3x as much as the nice looking clothes cost in canada. and shoes do not get me started on how much more expensive they are than in canada. and u go to those supposedly nice cafes and pay an arm and a leg for an argeehal and some coffee..I just feel bad for those low income employees, how do they manage it? and houses, holly crap! I will not pay for a tiny 2 bdroom apartment with a sucky craftmanship, almost what i paid to buy my 2 story, big yard, 3 bdrm ,and lots of space house in canada, that i get with great quality work , and a warrenty on top of that. it is so freakin’ ridiclous! ok i feel better now..but thanks to how expensive amman is, we are still living in canada..:) yippy!
Sahbi
March 9, 2007 @ 10:06 pm
Maybe you forgot Nice, second most expensive city in France. But, life level doesn’t have any influence on me. I’m living just like a normal person and even much better than many French students.
The secret ?? I believe that in any city easy life issues exist and we just have to know how to manage and keep a balanced life.
It is all about person’s skills and capacities on adapting.
Sasa
March 10, 2007 @ 12:06 am
ohmygodohmygodohmygod! I was trying to remember the name of that lovely little ice cream shop yesterday when i was telling one of my Ammani friends about it. And all I could remember is that a Halabi works in there.
I LOVE Frosti. In fact, it’s worth coming to Amman for.
Thank you for bringing back a lovely memory my favourite Ammani :)
Sami
March 10, 2007 @ 12:18 am
I don’t know exactly what’s their criteria, but to tell me that Minneapolis, Detroit and Seattle are more expensive than Boston! That’s what I find hard to understand…
Hareega
March 10, 2007 @ 12:19 am
I lived in 3elbet-bebsi-bi-10-groosh era
Q
March 10, 2007 @ 9:17 am
I think that even though Amman is quite expensive compared to other cities, the personal income will rise to balance this out. It’s just that the economy started growing so fast. Many new malls and towers and being built, and the tourism is becoming better. According to the “supply vs. demand” rule, prices have to rise. But I’m sure things will be much better in a couple of years. You can already see many of the big companies rescaling their whole salary tables.
Adel
March 10, 2007 @ 2:00 pm
Amman is more expensive than Dubai? What a crap!
Isam
March 10, 2007 @ 4:38 pm
walla amman is so expensive when you compare to income !
masalan in Jeddah Salaries are at least 3 to 4 times higher and the prices are 50% less at least !!!!!
o allah ysahel 3alek ya zeyad ra7bani …
Sho 3ada ma bada … ma btefro2 ma3 7ada
sorna badna nbeeee3 …
olmaz el 5awatem … dahab el manajem
la nedfa3 bel mata3em … fatoooret el ‘3adaaaa ….
abu 7amarneh
March 11, 2007 @ 9:46 pm
zaman awwal 7awwal… bas keef Amman is more expensive than Dubai??? inso il mawdoo3 … even compared to the income its not
Moey
March 12, 2007 @ 2:43 am
hahahahaha, I just love Beirut and Kuwait City :D
Ula
March 13, 2007 @ 12:00 am
My heart goes out to the average Jordanian and those who are barely making ends meet. I was shocked when I came a cross a study that shows in Jordan, and after the departure of the late King Hussain, the younger generations of Jordanians have lower educational attainment and quality of education than their parents. They attribute this to economic hardships and failed government policies. very sad reality for a country that has no natural resources, where education is the only insurance against an uncertain future.
Rami
March 13, 2007 @ 12:49 am
ya ROBA be stright this is only a survey not an offical thing, it is a stupid survey done by non prof. people.
If you live in Lebanon or Dubai you’ll really know what expensive means, when you have to pay 3 JD’s for a flafel sandwich that is expensive, but when you compare income to income ours is less but alos life is cheaper and easier for us, imagine you pay 150JD’s for an electrsity bill!!1 that is expensive but it happen in dubat so dont tell me Amman is more expensive
Hakim Jararah
March 17, 2007 @ 12:31 pm
I have been frequenting Amman over the past six years. I have noticed how expensive it has become. Considering that I am a New York City dweller, some might accuse me of exaggerating. But I feel that Ammanites live by the Standards of the Swiss with the incomes of, well ,Jordanians:
I have always thought that the way the Jordanian economy is structured is flawed. Trickle down economics at best prevails.
That said, I always enjoy Jordan, and it is a place I look forward to going back to again and again.
I can’t wait to take a dip in the Dead Sea. The lowest point on earth. And once there, one can only go up.
And yeh, what’s up with the Dead Sea Fishing Club? Ever see those hats?!!!