According to a report published in The Wall Street Journal, Pakistan’s biggest city landed up at the bottom of the index for the Economist Intelligence Unit’s world-wide cost-of-living survey.
The over-populated port city came in 131st out of 131 cities, maintaining last year's position.
Other cities that made it to the bottom ten include Mumbai, New Delhi, Kathmandu and Dhaka.
Jon Copestake, editor of the survey, stated in the report that these cheap cities "have been cheap for a long time." "Even though local inflation is high, it's coming from a very low base, so it's only a slight rise in the cost-of-living index," he said.
Published twice a year, the survey tracks the prices of goods and services such as food, transportation, utilities, private schools and domestic help to calculate scores for each city, using New York as its base with a score of 100.
According to this year’s survey, Zurich is the world's most expensive city to live in.
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@Hadia Khan:
the survey is totally ridiculous if you are converting the expanses in dollars so kindly convert income of peoples in dollars too you would find-out the results ....... i think Cheapest cities are those where peoples are getting higher pay then their expanses .....
People who are calling the survey ridiculous arguing that people here are over-working their already burned out bodies to make ends meet, they need to think critically before taking their frustration out on the survey. It's not the survey's fault if the governance over here is disastrous. Even for those people who work hard to make their ends meet, Karachi IS the cheapest city- be it for international travelers or locals, in dollar terms or rupees; because prices in other cities are higher anyway.
Agree, Karachi is the cheapest city in terms of entrance fees to parks, Pepsi returnable bottle is cheapest, dhaba food is cheapest, bus fares cheapest
Karachi might be the cheapest city to live in; but its people do not have purchasing the power to make ends meet! Its a simple lesson in economics; that even in cities where cost of living is expensive but its inhabitants have the necessary purchasing power (I am referring strong incomes); they can have a good quality of life. Prime examples of such cities include Zurich, New York and Singapore etc
Whereas a city might have cheaper commodities, but if its people have inadequate incomes they are in financial straits and thus are constantly miserable (Karachi a prime example here)!
My humble request is that such economic facts should also be highlighted when publishing such features!
Missing Naimtullah, he is the actual initiator of the karachi development. His mega for Karachi includes: - K3 Bulk water supply scheme project - Green Buses - Korangi - Shah faisal colony interchange - Signal free Shara-e-faisal
Guys disagreeing with the results of the survey, I guess, you are missing the basic point. Such surveys are done for the international travelers, not for the locals. And, for the purpose of comparison, they use a reference city to compare the results with, in this case New York city. And, of course, they won’t compare the costs in Rupees but US Dollars. Now, I don’t think, anyone of you will disagree that Karachi is far more cheaper, in US dollars terms, than New York, and the rest of the other cities surveyed.
In my personal experience too, Karachi is even cheaper, in many ways, than the other metropolitan cities of Pakistan like Islamabad, Lahore, Rawalpindi and Peshawar.
this is a misleading article, beacuse the prices alone shudnt be considered, being translated into a common currency. In this way, the countries with a weak currency tend to be cheaper. The prices should be compared to the income levels for a clar picture, and by this way, im sure that Khi will be alot more expensive!
Discretion in the use of word 'cheap' is necessary for my beloved city. Karachi is INEXPENSIVE not Cheap.
This is for expatriates and exporters. People earning in dollars and spending in rupees. Seriously! Read the article before commenting!
Karachi......i love u
Average income in Pakistan is <1000 dollars per year while in USA, it is >46000 dollars per year. Even then many things like food, cars, petrol and electronics are cheaper in the US even if you convert .
Very true.. It is the cheapest city I have ever been or may be just for overseas Pakistanis. I miss Karachi and my family :( (aa de tum)
It is meant for people outside not people living in Karachi because if u convert 500 pkr it's almost 5 usd which won't even get u box of biryani
This is true karachi is the cheapest city in the world. one can get a cup of tea in Rs15 and two naans and one plate of vegetable or dall for Rs30. thats the cheapest. i can bet on this.
the calculations are deceptive....because they have compared the cost of living in dollars (to form common ground amongst cities world-wide) and Khi ended up at the bottom of the list not because things are actually cheap....but because exchange rate is so low
Have to agree with people disagreeing! This survey is erroneous and riddled with alot of disinformation. How in the Hell can you call Karachi the cheapest city.. for heavens sake people are over-working their already burned out bodies to make ends meet and these jar heads come up with these wise cracks? Mumbai is cheap? Try getting 50 sq ft (yes FEET) to just sleep (forget ablutions) or a place to live.. you could actually buy a damn garage on mortgage in the US with the rental you pay in Mumbai.
Delhi? Please pay INR 25 for a decent cup of tea on the street and tell me its cheap! Considering India grows a lot and I mean a lot of chai~!
Kathmandu? Where you pay a premium to buy essential commodites to the price equivalent to purchase cocaine!!
This is throughly skewed!
yay
People who got the survey done do not live in Karachi.
I do not agree with the survey report. It is totally wrong and is far from reality.
The salary of a labourer is Rs.7,000/- per month.
A family of four or six where there is a single bread earner has to earn from Rs.20,000 to Rs.25,000/- per month just to meet the end needs.
I have never come across such a foolish survey in my life.
I read the comments on CNN for this "news" as well and it's simply not true. I really don't know where WSJ gets their people from...
I agree.. It's the cheapest city I have ever been. A cup of tea for just Rs.15 seems like a dream only !
compared to other metropolitan cities karachi is very cheap. I've lived in London, Dubai & Toronto and I can safely say we have the most economical city and that's something to be proud of!
The only think cheap in Karachi is the blood of innocent people..thanks to our so called political parties doing politics on ethnics and sects..except this nothing is cheap in this city...
maybe not for people living there.
Ha! yeah Right!!