Well said, have you taken this into consideration of what is the
average income of the Singaporeans in comparison to the Swiss ? The
higher taxation paid by the Swiss to Singaporeans? Mind you, if you
had noticed I mentioned the Cost of Living and not the Standard of
Living.
London is the most expensive city in the world
while Swiss cities are home to highest earners
A report by UBS
The worlds richest cities in 2006
In UBS' international comparison, North American workers earn the
highest wages, with workers in Western Europe close at their heels.
In general, however, European net earnings are significantly below
the disposable incomes levels enjoyed by Americans, due to higher
taxes and social security contributions. One noteworthy exception
to this trend is Ireland, which has relatively low payroll taxes.
Less surprising is the fact that South Americans and Africans
receive comparatively low compensation on average for the work they
perform; pay in developing and emerging market countries is only a
fraction of that in the industrialized nations.
The highest gross wages are paid in Scandinavia Copenhagen and
Oslo followed by Switzerland, whose citizens also enjoy lower
payroll tax deductions. Nowhere in the world do workers get
more from their pay than in Zurich after mandatory
deductions. But a net salary is not necessarily fully
available for private consumption: there may be further hidden
costs in our cities that are not covered by basic taxes and social
contributions.
Within Europe alone there are dramatic differences in wage and
salary levels. In Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria, wages are similar
to those paid in India or Kenya. Wage inequalities between Eastern
and Western Europe are a double-edged concern: workers from the
East are moving to the West in search of higher pay, while new
manufacturing capacity is being added in the East to take advantage
of the much lower wages there.
Compared with the survey taken three years ago, little has changed
among the top-ranked cities in terms of highest gross pay, except
for the inclusion now of London among the world's Top Ten. The
lowest average wages can still be found in Manila, Delhi, Mumbai,
Jakarta and Bangkok. (Report by UBS)
Rank Cities Wage index
1 Zurich 124.2
2 Geneva 115.4
3 Oslo 110.8
4 Dublin 104.6
5 New York 100.0
6 Luxembourg 98.1
7 Los Angeles 97.0
8 London 96.0
9 Copenhagen 95.7
10 Chicago 94.7
11 Helsinki 89.1
12 Tokyo 87.4
13 Frankfurt 85.5
14 Munich 84.5
15 Berlin 82.1
16 Vienna 81.2
17 Toronto 80.4
18 Sydney 79.6
19 Brussels 78.2
20 Montreal 77.3
21 Stockholm 77.0
22 Miami 74.0
23 Auckland 73.4
24 Amsterdam 72.7
25 Lyon 70.5
26 Nicosia 69.5
27 Paris 68.8
28 Barcelona 66.6
29 Madrid 64.3
30 Milan 59.9
31 Dubai 57.8
32 Rome 49.7
33 Athens 48.6
34 Seoul 48.2
35 Taipei 43.3
36 Singapore 38.9
37 Lisbon 38.6
38 Johannesburg 37.3
39 Manama 36.6
40 Hong Kong 34.9
41 Sao Paulo 29.0
42 Ljubljana 28.3
43 Istanbul 25.9
44 Prague 25.8
45 Moscow 25.4
46 Santiago de Chile 24.3
47 Tallinn 22.1
48 Rio de Janeiro 21.2
49 Budapest 20.0
50 Bratislava 18.7
51 Caracas 18.7
52 Warsaw 18.4
53 Buenos Aires 18.0
54 Lima 15.8
55 Kuala 15.7
56 Vilnius 15.4
57 Riga 15.3
58 Bucharest 13.2
59 Shanghai 13.1
60 Bogotá 13.0
61 Kiev 11.6
62 Nairobi 11.1
63 Mexico 10.9
64 Beijing 10.9
65 Bangkok 10.9
66 Sofia 10.2
67 Mumbai 8.7
68 Jakarta 8.2
69 Manila 7.8
70 Delhi 7.8
