Cheapest countries to live in

Measure: Whole economy price level
Unit: ratio, United States = 1
Year: 2021

South Sudan comes top of this list at 0.06, out of 199 countries measured on the same scale for 2021. The measure is a price level quoted as ratio, United States = 1.

A low price level rarely arrives on its own. It usually travels with lower wages and a weaker currency, so a country near the top of this list is cheap for somebody arriving with income from elsewhere and not necessarily cheap for somebody earning there. The ranking is most useful read next to the pay figures for the same country, and least useful read as a recommendation.

The list sorts on one measure, the World Bank price level ratio, quoted as ratio, United States = 1, and it covers 199 of the roughly 195 countries it claims. Nothing is blended: a list that mixed two price measures on two scales would be ordering two different things and would put currency regimes at the top rather than cheap countries.

A price level is not a cost of living for a person. It compares a standard basket across countries and takes no account of what you earn, where you live inside the country, or what you actually buy.