Australia Rated Best Place to Live and Work

[guest from sarajevo]

lol ...... it is my opinion even without official rating

[guest from sarajevo]

Originally Posted by PacoMartin

Speaking of statistics the latest International Monetary fund report (a new one comes out every six months) made headlines because it is the first time that China was expected to be the world's largest economy by end of year 2014.

I took a look at their calculations of purchasing power parity (PPP). The simplest PPP calculation is the Big Mac Index. July's Big Mac Index said the PPP of the US dollar and Australian dollar were nearly perfectly matched, as a Big Mac in Australia averaged AUD$5.1 = US$4.81 . The price of a Big MAC in the USA averaged $4.795

The Big Mac index is meant to be pedantic, but it very often is in the right ballpark. I was surprised to see IMF rate Australia as the 4th most expensive country in the world.

Give a US$1000 if turned into a local currency, what would be the equivalent purchasing power of the local currency. Switzerland was the lowest, but Australia was not far behind.

$655 Switzerland
$664 Norway
$716 Denmark
$742 Australia
$777 Sweden
$789 New Zealand
...
$855 United Kingdom
...
$880 Canada
....
$1,004 Japan
....
$3,554 India (the highest major country)

Most countries in the world have a number higher than $1000. Mexico is $1,654 because when you turn US$1000 into pesos, you can buy the equivalent of goods and services that cost $1654 in the USA.

Japan used to have a radically different PPP than USA. I guess a real estate meltdown will do things to your economy.

Clearly this calculation cannot be verified in real life because $1000 buys you very different things in Manhattan than in Cowpie, Iowa.

In light of this discussion, are you surprised by this estimate? Do you think it is Australian real estate prices? How about the price of electricity (I hear it is horrific)? Hotels and food prices have been described to me as comparable to USA.

I agree with subject title not because of the money or what you can buy for certain amount of money.

Since I live in Bosnia and Herzegovina I measure that rating by social security, social empathy, and responsibility, health care system, and other humanist issues. What do you get if you recalculate 1000 Pesos, and see that you can buy much more for that then for 1000 USD, if average salary in Mexico is 500 Pesos, but most of workers actually get 300?? When tourists came to Sarajevo everything is much cheaper for them, but they have no idea that people here are working 12 hours, it is written they are working 8, and salary they get for 5, IF they get it at all (mostly companies are giving salary with overdue - e.g. you get your salary for March 2014 in August 2014)

[guest from sarajevo]

Originally Posted by the troubadour

I wonder where they make these reports up. If the average wage is around 468,000, house price to buy is around a half a million and often higher, not forgetting rents around $500 a week....well let's just say it is pretty darn hard getting on the housing ladder.
Australia has close to if not the most overpriced housing in relation to income.

hahahahaha, try to work in Bosnia as a local, and to buy house????? ....... come one - interests I pay for my mortgage are 6,9% .... still the best offer!