Is Europe really cheaper than HK?

[ohchk2001]

There was this flamey thread posted by Mircolan where he claimed that living in Europe is less expensive than HK.

Is this really true?

My impression of Europe is high income taxes, VAT, and a strong Euro which makes everything more expensive.

While I do realize property is expensive in HK, as someone who owns property in HK this really doesn't bother me. I find everything else in HK to be cheaper compared to the US if you eat local food and buy local products. On top of that, taxes are a fraction of what they are in Europe and the US.

If you only buy import goods, I can see how it may be more expensive.

[Ling_Ling]

Europe where? Each country has different standards. The more to East, the cheaper, the more to West, the more expencive.
With my salary here in Ukraine or Poland I would be "rich", with the same money in UK or Germany - barely making my living, or being on the edge.

[Katiedot]

I find there are a lot of things cheaper in the UK than HK, but that's probably more because I know where to shop there and also because I like certain brands of toiletries, washing powder etc.

Other stuff in HK is cheaper - transportation, taxes, food (if you're willing to eat local).

But there's no point complaining about HK because in the end, no one puts a gun to your head and forces you to live here. If you think it's better elsewhere, then move elsewhere.

[ohchk2001]

Europe where? Each country has different standards. The more to East, the cheaper, the more to West, the more expencive.
With my salary here in Ukraine or Poland I would be "rich", with the same money in UK or Germany - barely making my living, or being on the edge.

By Europe I mean the E.U. and mainly the more expensive countries like Germany, France, the U.K, etc.

Apologies for being so broad.

[gilleshk]

I would say that it really depends on how you live, where you shop and eat. I know that living in HK is overall less expensive for me than Canada, the US, Australia, NZ and Western Europe but if you need lots of western goodies and go out a lot, that can certainly be different.

There's a big price difference between a piece of local meat at the market and an imported steak at Great. Some of the cheap local fruits and the fancy japanese ones. Shopping at Armani in PP or in the outlets in Wanchai.

It's hard to get a nice pasta meal for about 50HKD in HK but it's easy to get a nice indian set for not much more or some vietnamese.

[Mat]

Europe = continent
HK = city

Compare apples with apples

If you ask a specific question: ie: is London more expensive than HK then we can answer, but Europe or even France or UK is too broad. Heck you live on a lot less in the country side in France as compare to Paris.