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THE KNOWLEDGE
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LIFE IN DUBAI
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Go directly to the spreadsheet
One of the most topical subjects regarding the UAE concerns the cost of living. The Economist Intelligence Unit placed Dubai and Abu Dhabi as the
71st and 82nd most expensive cities in the world to live and Mercer HR Consulting placed them at
25th and 30th respectively. The cost of living in Dubai has increased
rapidly, and the same is occurring in Abu Dhabi more recently. The cost of
living is sure to increase over the coming years, most probably due to accommodation. While rent, on its own, should account for at least 50% of your cost of living (though official cpi figures place it at between 30% and 40%), we felt it important to look at other goods and services available. We have thus put together a spreadsheet of data so that you are able to calculate your own cost of living, should you come to the UAE.
There are numerous cost of living indicators available, including those of the Economist and Mercer which are notable for providing cost of living comparisons between baskets of goods internationally. Although this is particularly useful, we have gone out on the street to find out
actual prices of certain goods and services, so that you are able to compare against actual products in your home countries. These providers, although far superior in their offering, charge an arm and a leg for their information. While most cost of living surveys charge for such data, we at Grapeshisha have provided all the relevant information that we have obtained in a spreadsheet and offer it to you for free to help you make your decisions. We provide this data with a disclaimer that the information is intended to assist you in making your decisions, but that you should not base all your decisions on any sole resource.
The cost of living in Dubai is relatively expensive and can be equated to other large cities in the world. That being said, it it possible to make smart choices on some elements of goods and choices of
lifestyle to reduce your overall cost of living. The cost of living in Abu Dhabi is not that of Dubai, but seems to be following the same suit, especially if you look at rental prices that we
have looked at in an area of the site. If the Dubai cost of living is a big factor for you moving here, you really need to factor in
inflationary factors, across the board of at least 5% to understand how much life will be over a period of time. Some say that percentage is low, and you really need to look higher to be safe to understand how much it will actually cost.
Methodology
Our fieldwork was carried out during December 2005 and January 2006 with additions ongoing from that point on. This involved obtaining actual prices from a number of institutions and calculating a simple average. Where price from only one establishment was available, this price was provided. We have been especially careful to obtain actual prices which are indicative, and can thus be used as a comparison. Where highly skewed data with a differential of more than 50% from the other data was obtained, it was discounted and removed from the overall average.
With regard to consumables and groceries that were obtained from the supermarkets, the following, in general, applies: Spinneys and Abela are considered high end and provide like for like products available at supermarkets in the UK. In general, these products are more expensive, but some argue that their quality warrants the price; Carrefour, Geant, Choithram and the Co-operatives offer a wide choice at a reasonable price
Prices were gathered from a variety of institutions including those listed above. We chose a variety in our selection of institution, including smaller street shops, only in the instance when the price did not unduly affect the overall average significantly, so that the reader can make the decision on product choice, and opt for the higher or lower price when comparing. This differs from other cost of living comparisons since, typically, they only use retailers who provide all of the products in one outlet. We believe that this is non indicative and this is where our methodology differs. Further, we aim to provide additional comparisons in the future, by supplying low cost non brand alternatives to the brands that are listed, to give further choices in calculation. It should be noted that there may be instances where low end stores will charge higher than high end store, and there may also be instances where comparisons are not available. Finally, it should also be noted that
a large number of goods are imported to the UAE and so these charges may be passed down to the consumers. Despite this, the choice in product is particularly diverse. Goods arrive from Europe, the Far East, the US and the other Gulf Countries to satisfy the different nationalities that live here.
While groceries involved the greater amount of time with regard to data collection, we have provided other indicatory prices for groceries, entertainment, white goods and electrical, utilities, services and transport. These have primarily been provided for data purposes, although in certain cases, the choice may be subjective. In this instance, the prices have been provided to understand at what price it may be possible to purchase. Highly subjective items such as clothing, for example, have not been included as part of this exercise.
Price Fluctuations
Fluctuations occur frequently for a number of reasons, notably: price setting by governmental associations, seasonal fluctuations, shortage and oversupply of goods and the strength of the Dollar.
As many goods are imported to the UAE, shortage in a certain product can lead to temporary imbalances.
Some products may be banned, which notably happened to Danish products for a period of time, which will affect the price of equivalent products. Further, the UAE Dirham is tied to the US Dollar at a rate of 3.6725, and so any reduction in strength of the dollar reduces the purchasing power of the Dirham directly. For reference, all prices quoted in the spreadsheet are in UAE Dirhams. At that point of collation, the exchange rate from the Dirham to the Euro was 4.41, to the UK Pound 6.44 and to the Australian Dollar 2.75, although the DOllar has weakened since that point in time.
All data is Dubai specific, although in less than 10% of cases fluctuations occur in groceries that amount to approximately a 5% price reduction in Abu Dhabi and an estimated 7% reduction in other Emirates. These fluctuation should perhaps not be considered worthy as changes are ongoing.
How to use the Data
Since we have not indexed the data, it is therefore necessary for the reader to carry out comparisons themselves based on their local data. From speaking to a number of individuals, it seems easiest to note down the groceries consumed on a monthly basis and simply calculate the cost of purchasing the goods at Dirham prices. With regard to start up costs, estimations should be made, based on the data that we have provided. We have not included location specific information, such as initial shipping costs, since they would vary from city to city.
The Cost of Living in Dubai Spreadsheet
The spreadsheet is not intended to assist companies in composing compensation schemes, but is merely an information source for those considering to stay in the UAE for a period of time, to give a general indication of what certain goods and services would cost.
Feel free to download and share this Cost of Living spreadsheet with friends and colleagues or save the file to a communal shared area. If you do share the file, please leave it in its current form and provide full attribution and a link to http://www.grapeshisha.com.
If you have any suggestions, additions or corrections please contact us.
Any update to the spreadsheet will be applied to this file.
Download the file, in Microsoft Excel Format, here:
If you found this spreadsheet useful, why not consider donating 5 dollars, to help us to maintain the site:
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Rental Prices in Dubai and Abu Dhabi
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