How long does it take you to buy an iPhone X in 2018?

UBS released the 2018 Global Cost of Living Survey Report. If you want to buy an iPhone X, people in Zurich only need to work 38.2 hours, people in New York need 54.1 hours, and people in Beijing need 314.3 hours. If you live in Cairo, which ranks last (77th), you need to work 1,066 hours, 28 times more than people in Zurich.

The working hours (days) required to buy an iPhone X, from left to right: Zurich, New York, Tel Aviv, Panama, Beijing and Lagos

How does China perform in this report? Although housing prices in Beijing and Shanghai are sky-high, the highest cost of living in China is Taipei, which ranks 32nd (33rd in income level), followed by Hong Kong, which ranks 33rd (29th in income level). In mainland China, Beijing and Shanghai ranked 46th and 47th respectively.

From January to April 2018, UBS conducted a survey in 77 cities around the world, analyzed and evaluated more than 75,000 data on prices and incomes, and ranked the price level, income level, and purchasing power level of residents in each city. Since the first edition of the UBS Price and Salary Report was published in 1971, there have been 17 updates. What changes have taken place in the global living standards over the years?

By weighting the monthly consumption of 128 goods and services at different prices in various cities, UBS generated the following cost of living ranking (the data uses New York prices as the benchmark index of 100). In addition, since housing is an important factor affecting the cost of living, this ranking also divides the index into two types: including rent and not. Among them, Zurich tops the list, and Geneva, Oslo, Copenhagen and New York 2nd to 5th are respectively. Among the top 10, 7 are European cities, and the only Asian city on the list is Tokyo, Japan (ranked 6th). The three cities with the highest prices are Kiev (Ukraine), Lagos (Nigeria) and Cairo (Egypt).

How does China perform in this report?

Although housing prices in Beijing and Shanghai are sky-high, Taipei ranks 32nd in terms of cost of living in China (ranked 33rd in terms of income), followed by Hong Kong at 33rd (ranked 29th in terms of income). In mainland China, Beijing and Shanghai rank 46th and 47th respectively.

The top ten cities in terms of global purchasing power, from top to bottom, are: Los Angeles, Zurich, Miami, Geneva, Luxembourg, Chicago, Toronto, Panama, Hong Kong and New York.

Seeing this, you may wonder why UBS uses the Big Mac and iPhoneX as the benchmark for measuring purchasing power?

This is because in this year's report, UBS conducted a unique survey of the shopping carts of Generation Y in 77 cities around the world and summarized the "Millennial Must-Have List", which includes Netflix accounts, iPhones, laptops, jeans, sneakers, Big Macs, coffee and avocados. To this end, UBS also calculated the cost of purchasing these items in 11 major cities around the world.