Living alone costs more than $4,000 a month in some of the world's most expensive cities, but the size of the bill tells only half the story.
South Africans battling the cost of living may take some comfort from knowing that living alone can require more than $4,000 (approximately R64,000) a month in some of the world's most expensive capitals.
A study by Atmos ranked London as the most financially challenging of the cities it examined for a young adult living independently, estimating that a salary of $4,674 (R75,524) a month is needed to cover expenses and leave a 10% buffer. Washington DC followed at $4,514 (R72,939), Reykjavik at $4,363 (R70,499), Dublin at $4,042 (R65,312) and Amsterdam at $4,016 (R64,892).
For comparison, an illustrative Johannesburg budget compiled by IOL comes to R35,025 a month before the buffer, or R38,528 including it – about $2,386 at R16.15/$.
But simply converting spending into a common currency can be misleading. People in London earn and spend pounds, those in Amsterdam earn and spend euros, and South Africans earn and spend rand. The Big Mac Index suggests the ZAR is currently undervalued against the US dollar by roughly 44.0%.
