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Cost of living
Affordability Index map
The Affordability Index estimates the real monthly cost of living for a professional expat in each jurisdiction, including housing, food, transport, and utilities. This map colors every country by its latest Affordability score, with absolute paliers consistent with our ranking pages.
Click a jurisdiction for details. Scroll to zoom.
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What the data shows
Afghanistan leads the Affordability map at 8.9 / 10, ahead of Yemen (8.8 / 10) and Syria (8.8 / 10).
Across 232 ranked jurisdictions, 42 score 8 or higher and 78 fall below 6.
Monaco sits at the bottom of the published range at 1.0 / 10.
How to read this map
Green marks the top quintile on this composite, red marks the bottom quintile. Hover and the tables keep the absolute score out of 10. Map colors are relative to the full pool.
- Top quintileabout the top 20 % on this map (best side of the metric)
- Second quintilenext 20 %
- Middle quintilemiddle 20 %
- Fourth quintilenext 20 %
- Bottom quintileabout the bottom 20 % (weakest side of the metric)
- Unrankednot ranked
Top 10 highest scores
| Rank | Flag | Country | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Afghanistan | 8.9 / 10 | |
| =2 | Yemen | 8.8 / 10 | |
| =2 | Syria | 8.8 / 10 | |
| =4 | Tajikistan | 8.5 / 10 | |
| =4 | Madagascar | 8.5 / 10 | |
| =4 | Bangladesh | 8.5 / 10 | |
| =4 | Pakistan | 8.5 / 10 | |
| =4 | Turkmenistan | 8.5 / 10 | |
| =4 | Sudan | 8.5 / 10 | |
| =4 | Somalia | 8.5 / 10 |
Bottom 10 scores
| Rank | Flag | Country | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 232 | Monaco | 1.0 / 10 | |
| 231 | Switzerland | 1.7 / 10 | |
| 230 | Bermuda | 1.9 / 10 | |
| 229 | Saint Barthelemy | 2.0 / 10 | |
| 228 | Liechtenstein | 2.3 / 10 | |
| 227 | French Polynesia | 2.4 / 10 | |
| 226 | Cayman Islands | 2.7 / 10 | |
| 225 | New Caledonia | 3.1 / 10 | |
| =223 | Anguilla | 3.4 / 10 | |
| =223 | Wallis and Futuna | 3.4 / 10 |
Methodology
Affordability is a major pillar of our composite Lucky Nomads World Index. Inputs include reference city costs (rent for a 1-bedroom downtown, mid-tier meal, coworking day pass) cross-referenced with published cost-of-living datasets. Each jurisdiction is normalised to a 1 to 10 scale where a higher score means lower cost for a professional lifestyle. The map reads the latest published Affordability score with absolute paliers consistent with ranking pages and country profiles.
Frequently asked questions
What does the Affordability Index measure?
Affordability Index measures the real monthly cost of living for a professional expat, including housing, food, transport, and utilities. It is one of the 19 objective dimensions that feed our composite Lucky Nomads World Index.
How is the Affordability Index score from 1 to 10 constructed?
The Affordability Index is scored independently for every jurisdiction from primary sources and structured analytical inference, then normalised on a 1 to 10 scale. The same engine powers the cockpit, ranking pages, and country profiles, so the Affordability Index you see here matches the score on each country profile.
How should I read the colors on the Affordability Index map?
Green countries score 8 or higher on Affordability Index, yellow countries land in the 6 to 7.9 range, red countries are below 6. Gray countries are not currently ranked. For the full ordered list, see our /rankings/most-affordable-countries page.
Where can I see the Affordability Index score for one specific country?
Click any green or red polygon on the map, or open the country profile under /countries/[slug] to see its Affordability Index score plus the other 17 dimensions.
How often is the Affordability Index updated?
Scores are reviewed on a rolling cadence as new data lands. The map below reflects the latest published numbers from our objective scoring engine.
Which jurisdictions currently lead the Affordability map?
As of the latest published scores, the top of the Affordability map is Afghanistan (8.9 / 10), Yemen (8.8 / 10), and Syria (8.8 / 10). The full ordered list with every ranked jurisdiction is in the table on this page.
Open as a ranking
Prefer an ordered list with rank, score, and country pages?
See the Affordability ranking →Related maps
Founder, Lucky Nomads · Wealth manager
Researched from official sources, leading global indices and Lucky Nomads' own scoring.