Numbeo.com, a global statistics website, recently released its global cost of living index (CoLI) in which it compares countries worldwide based on their scores in the index when benchmarked to New York City. It also provides the values of four other indices, namely the Rent Index, the Groceries Price Index, the Restaurant Price Index, and the Local Purchasing Power Index for each country, always when benchmarked to the city of New York. According to Numbeo’s latest statistics, the Cayman Islands emerged as the most expensive country in the world in the second half of 2019, with a CoLI value of 141.64, implying that prices in the Cayman Islands are 41.64% more expensive than those in New York City. The Cayman Islands were trailed by Bermuda (CoLI of 138.22) and Switzerland (CoLI of 122.67). Regionally, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) was the most expensive Arab country with a CoLI value of 63.58 (ranking 33^rd globally), followed by Qatar (CoLI value of 62.22 and a global rank of 34) and Lebanon (CoLI value of 59.74 and a global rank of 36).Therefore, prices in Lebanon are 40.26% less expensive than those in New York City, scoring 26.20 in the Rent Price Index, 44.09 in the Groceries Price Index, 58.13 in the Restaurant Price Index, and 50.70 in the Local Purchasing Power Index.

The historical evolution of the CoLI and accompanying indices for Beirut shows that prices in Beirut have generally decreased over the last couple of years, with the CoLI value dropping from 66.74 in mid-2015 to 60.79 in mid-2018 and 59.74 in mid-2019. Said drop is mainly attributed to the nosedive in the Rent Index, dropping from 40.56 in mid-2016 to 26.20 in mid-2019 mainly owing to the dire state of the realty sector and the Lebanese economy in general.