Find out more about William Russell
The field is empty.
It’s no secret that the UK is suffering a cost of living crisis. Prices of groceries, fuel, and energy have increased significantly over the last couple of years, causing many people to struggle to pay bills.
This has caused UK residents to seriously consider moving abroad, with Google searches relating to moving abroad rising by up to 300%. From health insurance to accommodation, there are several things to consider when moving abroad, and one of the most important considerations is the cost of living.
To show you just how much cheaper it is to live abroad, the team at William Russell has compared the cost of living in different countries across the globe. We’ve looked at multiple factors, including groceries, energy, fuel, and alcohol, to reveal the countries with the cheapest cost of living.
Our findings show that only Singapore, Italy, Denmark and Switzerland have a higher cost of living than the UK—which had a cost of living score of 3.33 out of 10. From food to entertainment, we’ve looked a variety of factors to reveal the countries with the most affordable living costs.
Cost of living score /10
Malaysia has the cheapest cost of living, with a score of 8.18 out of 10. Malaysia scores highly across the majority of our factors, ranking especially highly for its cheap fuel, rent, Big Macs, and cola. It’s got the cheapest fuel, the third-cheapest Big Macs and rent, costing £1.87 and £270, respectively, and the fourth-cheapest Pepsi and Coca-Cola, with a cola score of 9.42 out of 10.
In addition to its low cost of living, Malaysia is a particularly attractive country for expats due to its high quality of life. Despite not being the wealthiest country, Malaysia has a high number of wealthy people, with the average income per capita sitting at more than £6,000. Several services and shopping centres in Malaysia are tailored towards upper-class and upper-middle-class Malaysians, and expats can make the most of these. Malaysia also has free healthcare and affordable private healthcare.
Indonesia follows closely behind in second place, with a cost of living score of 8.14 out of 10. Indonesia also consistently ranks highly across our factors, with the lowest cost of rent for a one-bedroom apartment, at just under £230, the third-lowest cost of fuel, with a score of 9.15, and the third-cheapest basic food items, with a score of 7.18.
Indonesia’s average income is the lowest on our list, with its residents earning just under £2,500 a year. Despite this, the low cost of living alongside the warm weather, makes Indonesia a particularly attractive place for expats.
Our top three conclude with Argentina, with a cost of living score of 8.02 out of 10. Argentina’s low cost of household energy, alcohol, basic food items, and fruit and vegetables are significant contributors to its high score. Argentina scored 10 for its household energy costs and 7.96 for its basic food items, both the highest-scoring country on our list. It also had the third-highest alcoholic beverage score, at 8.86/10, and the second-highest fruit and vegetable score, at 8.73 out of 10.
Argentina has a welcoming community, a rich culture, and a comfortable climate, all of which appeal to expats from all over the world. Healthcare, education, and entertainment are also affordable in Argentina.
Country
View all
Rent of a one-bedroom apartment in the city centre:
The country with the cheapest rent is Indonesia, with a one-bedroom apartment in the city centre costing almost £230 per month. If you’re looking for a one-bedroom apartment outside of the city centre, then one would cost you almost half the price, at £130.70 per month. If you want more room, then a three-bedroom apartment would cost £629.48 or £355.37 per month for the city centre or outside the city centre, respectively.
Household energy score /10:
Argentina has the cheapest household energy, boasting a perfect score of 10 out of 10. Household electricity in Argentina costs just 2p per kWh, with household natural gas costing just 1p per kWh. In the UK, household electricity costs 30p per kWh, and 7p per kWh for household natural gas, 1,500% and 700% higher than Argentina, respectively.
Fuel price score /10:
Malaysia has the cheapest fuel prices, with a score of 10 out of 10. In Malaysia, the average cost of diesel and petrol are 58p and 35p per litre, respectively. With fuel tanks commonly having a capacity of around 50 litres, a full tank of petrol would cost just £17.50, and a full tank of diesel would cost £29, on average.
The average price of petrol per litre in the UK is £1.40, with diesel per litre costing £1.45, almost £1 more than in Malaysia. This means that if you have a fuel tank with a capacity of around 50 litres, it would cost you £70 to fill it up with petrol and £72.50 for diesel, on average.
Basic food items price score /10:
Basic food in Argentina is cheaper than any other country on our list, with a score of 7.96 out of 10. Rice, beef, and milk cost 65p per kg, £4.79 per kg, and 30p per litre, respectively. In the UK, the same items would cost £1.27 per kg for rice, £10.63 per kg for beef, and £1.42 per litre for milk.
Fruit and vegetables price score /10:
Fruit and vegetables are cheaper in Türkiye than any other country on our list, with a score of 9.36 out of 10. Potatoes, onions, and white beans cost 36p, 25p, and £1.43 per kg, respectively. For fruit and vegetables, the UK scores 6.03 out of 10, which is the 12th cheapest on our list – the highest the UK ranks across any of our factors.
Bottled water cost:
Greece takes the top spot, with bottled water costing just 22p. This is two-thirds cheaper than it is in the UK, where the average bottle of water costs 68p. The most expensive bottled water is from Singapore, where it costs £1.87 on average.
Big Mac cost:
Romania is home to the cheapest McDonalds’ Big Mac, costing just £1.74. In the UK, a Big Mac costs almost £4, more than double the price of one in Romania. Just six countries have a more expensive Big Mac than the UK, with Switzerland having the most expensive at £5.12.
Cola price score /10:
With the cheapest Coca-Cola cost, Indonesia takes the top spot, with a 10 out of 10 score. Coca-Cola costs just 37p in Indonesia per 500ml, on average. The UK’s cola price score is just 0.88 out of 10, which is the fourth worst score on our list. In the UK, Coca-Cola costs £1.81, with Pepsi costing just over £1.50 on average.
Alcoholic beverage price score /10:
Hungary is home to the cheapest alcohol, with an alcoholic beverage score of 9.43 out of 10. It has the second cheapest price for a mid-range bottle of wine, at an average of £3.82 — only Argentina has cheaper wine at £2.67 on average. Its domestic beer price per 500ml is 79p, which is the fourth cheapest out of the countries on our list. The UK’s alcoholic beverage score is the 12th worst on our list, with wine costing just under £8 and domestic beer costing £1.92 per 500ml, on average.
Streaming price score /10:
Streaming services in Türkiye are the cheapest, with a perfect 10 out of 10 score for the low cost of Netflix and Disney Plus. The average cost of Netflix and Disney Plus is £2.58 and £0.79 per month, respectively. To put this in perspective, it costs £10.52 and £7.74 per month in the UK, respectively, for the same services, around £7 more for each streaming platform.
Microsoft Office 365 annual family subscription:
Using Microsoft Office apps such as Word, Excel, and Outlook are everyday essentials for some people to allow them to keep track of their emails, complete job applications, and even track banking and expenses information. Argentina takes the top spot with an annual family subscription for Microsoft Office 365, costing just £7.29. Argentina’s Microsoft Office subscription is considerably cheaper than any other country in our list, with a family subscription for Microsoft Office 365 costing £38.67 for second-placed Türkiye.
In the UK, it costs just under £80, more than 10 times the price in Argentina.
We used World Bank to get the average salary for each country.
We used Numbeo to get the average price of rent per month for a one-bedroom apartment in the city centre.
We used the World Population Review to get the average price of a Big Mac in each country. We then supplemented this using Statista and Hellosafe to fill in any missing data.
We then used Visual Capitalist to get the cost of Netflix per month for each country.
We then used Android Authority to get the Disney Plus prices per month for each country.
We combined these factors into a weighted table to get an overall streaming score for each country.
We then used Global Petrol Prices to get the diesel costs per litre for each country
We used Global Petrol Prices again to get the gasoline (petrol) prices per litre for each country.
We combined these factors into a weighted table to get an overall fuel score for each country
We used Global Petrol Prices again to get the household electricity prices and household natural gas prices per kWh for each country.
We combined these factors to get an overall household energy score for each country.
We used Global Product Prices to get the cost for all the ‘basic food items’ (flour, rice, sugar, salt, milk, eggs, cooking oil, beef, poultry). We combined these prices into a weighted table to get an overall basic food item score.
We then used Numbeo to find the price for a mid-range bottle of wine and domestic beer per 500ml. We then combined this data into a weighted table to get an alcoholic beverage score out of 10.
We then used Global Product Prices to find the price for an annual family subscription for Microsoft Office 365 Office. We used Microsoft’s official website to get the prices for any missing data.
We used Global Product Prices again to find the average cost of a bottle of water for each country.
We used Global Product Prices once again to find the average cost of Coca-Cola and Pepsi per 500ml in each country.
Finally, we used Global Product Prices to find the average cost of fruit and vegetables (potatoes, onions, beans, bananas, tomatoes, and oranges) in each country. We combined this data into a weighted table to get an overall fruit and vegetables price score.
We put this data into a weighted table to get an overall cost of living score.
More results…
