Cost of living in Maldives the highest in South Asia

Statistics show the cost of living in the Maldives is the highest in South Asia.

Bangladeshi media outlet, Fintech News BD, published a statistics of the estimated monthly cost of living for a single person, excluding rent, across South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries.

The statistics cites Numbeo, an online platform that allows users to explore, share, and compare cost of living data worldwide, and official authorities as its sources.

Maldives tops the list, with the highest estimated monthly cost of living at USD 840.4, amounting to MVR 12,958.9 in terms of bank rate. The remaining countries from highest to lowest are as follows:

• Sri Lanka - USD 507.6
• Bhutan - USD 387.2
• Bangladesh – USD 348.9
• Pakistan – USD 335.6
• India - USD 313.4

While Maldives top SAARC countries with the highest monthly cost of living, the prices of food products have recently surged noticeably. Many business owners attribute this increase to the rising US dollar exchange rate. In this context, the black market exchange rate has remained steady at around MVR 20 for some time.

A survey by the National Burau of Statistics in 2019 placed the monthly cost of living in Male’ area at over MVR 37,000, amounting to over MVR 7,000 per person on average.

The majority of this is incurred for essential needs.

However, the average salary of a household stood at MVR 35,596.

While middle-class households spend 35 percent of their salaries on rent, low-income households spend 68 percent of their salaries on rent. Meanwhile, wealthy households spend 28 percent of their salaries on rent.