In a rating "Prices and Salary" made up by the Swiss bank UBS the comparative analysis of standard of living in 77 largest world megacities on 122 positions was carried out, those positions included an average salary, a payment for habitation, cost of a consumer's basket, taxes, cost of a municipal transportation and basic services, including municipal.
According to this research, the most expensive for living among the cities of the world became London and Oslo. Three years ago the capital of Great Britain in rating UBS occupied 14th place, so the cost of living in foggy Albion is obviously rising, probably, because of inflow of billionaires from Russia which blow up the demand for habitation and elite services. Oslo is traditionally at the top of this rating. Norway has been for a long time already considered the most expensive country in the world, however, salaries here are the highest ones. England is famous for high taxes and not at the least liberal prices for such everyday things as fare in public transport, products, municipal services. New York was on the third place. On the fourth position are Tokyo, then follow Zurich, Copenhagen, Geneva, Dublin and Chicago. Los Angeles brings up the rear. Moscow occupied 41st place in this list. However, to live in the Russian capital is more expensive than in Tallinn, Vilnius, Riga and Kiev.
Illusion of superexpensiveness in Moscow is connected with the rise in prices for habitation which beats all records and thus obviously is out of the world standards "price-quality". Only on the results of 2005-2006 more than 3 million square meters of habitation will be builded in Moscow. Everything else is not so expensive in capital of Russia.
In particular, to compare economic opportunities of different cities UBS used "index of the Big-Mac" - the Swiss bank calculated how many time it required to earn famous sandwich. It was found out that Muscovite needs for it 25 minutes whereas this parameter has made up 35 minutes around the world. In the cities of the USA inhabitants earn sandwich in 13 minutes. One and a half hour is needed in Nairobi. In Moscow to buy one kg of bread or rice is necessary to work 12 minutes. In London one needs 16 minutes for Big-Mac and 5 minutes for one kg of bread and rice.
If to assume as a basis of comparison New York - index 100, then in Oslo the cost of consumer's basket of the goods and services without the payment for habitation will make up 121. The same things will cost twice more cheaper - 65,6 items without taking into account payment for habitation and 56,8 including the rent.
The highest salaries after the deduction of taxes are still in Zurich, Geneva, Dublin, Los Angeles and Luxembourg. If the level of the pure salary in New York accept for 100 items, then in Zurich it will make up 124 items. In converting it into "physical units" the Swiss can buy for an average salary more products than any other inhabitant of a planet. For comparison in Moscow the salary constitutes only 25,4 items of 100 percents of New York’s. Thus if life "there" is twice more expensive than our incomes are lower than in the West on average 4-5 times. Here you are, for example, numbers driven in official statistics: an average income of citizens in the capital according to the results of the previous year is 24886 roubles.
According to Moscow City Statistics teachers and medical men have the lowest average salaries /10286 and 11462 roubles correspondingly/. Employees of financial sphere are best paid in megapolis /in average 35581 roubles/, of the sphere of communication /23824 roubles/ and also of the wholesale and retail trade /21293 roubles/. According to interrogations of capital inhabitants carried out on the streets of the city, it turns out that the average working Muscovite earns approximately 500-700 dollars.
According to the data of the recent research of the magazine Newsweek, Moscow forms the ten of dynamically developing cities of the planet. The list of the most rapidly developing cities of the world is made up also by the American Las Vegas, Fukuoka /Japan/, Munich, London, Toulouse, Shanghai, Gaziabad/India/, Kojan/Southern Corea/ and Florianopolis/Brazil/.
