Brace yourselves: Switzerland has been named as the most expensive country on the planet to live in. You say you weren’t surprised, at all? Us neither, actually. The latest report putting Switzerland at the top of the list comes from CEOWORLD Magazine, which based its rankings on data from multiple studies and used criteria across a range of living costs, including accommodation, the price of eating out, clothing, taxi fares and groceries.
Again unsurprisingly, Europe dominated the top ten most expensive countries on the list, with Norway coming second (with costs significantly below Switzerland, it’s worth noting), followed by Iceland, Japan and Denmark. The UK ranked 27th.
Switzerland particularly excels itself when it comes to the cost of groceries and eating out, blowing away the competition in both categories. On the plus side, Switzerland also topped the ‘local purchasing power’ category, which assesses the value of a country’s currency to decide how much bang for your buck you get when you’re out of that country. Translation: stuff’s way cheaper outside of Switzerland.
If you’re wondering where to get more for your money, the five most affordable countries on the list were as follows, beginning with the least expensive: Pakistan, Afghanistan, India, Syria and Uzbekistan.
By far the most important thing that the survey showed, however, is that when Swiss residents complain to anyone not living in the country about how expensive Switzerland really is – they’ve now finally got some hard data to back up that complaining.