cost of livling index by provinces / cities

[c4oyu4n]

Hi there,

I wondered if theres any statistical data about average consumer prices or a market basket for china by provinces or cities. Using google I found some numbers about consumer price indices (CPI) which only illustrate change in living expenses. But it seems difficult to get any data abotu total costs. (I am interested in total costs of living in Tianjin compared to the average in China.

Here's what I found: http://www.starmass.com/china_review/living_index/income_consumption_by_region.htm

http://www.china.org.cn/e-company/07-05-10/page070314.htm

anf of course: http://www.stats.gov.cn/tjsj/ndsj/2009/indexeh.htm

Thanks for any hints,

cy

[abcdefg]

Thanks for any hints,

Doesn't really answer your question, but perhaps provides a hint as to why you haven't had a dozen replies by now.

Getting meaningful information about the cost of living across a broad range of cities in China is very difficult for several reasons. First, as you have found, much of what you can locate on line is several years old. It may still be of limited use in answering "comparative" questions such as "Is it more expensive to live in Tianjin than in Wuhan?"

But the "absolute" figures won't be terribly useful. First off, it's generally cheaper for a native of a country to live there than it is for a foreigner. Additionally, the cost of living for a foreign exchange student who is struggling to make ends meet will be vastly different from that of an expat executive sent here on an international corporate package.

I am interested in total costs of living in Tianjin compared to the average in China.

Furthermore, comparing any city to "the average in China" is not going to be very productive, because the extremes of what comprises the average are separated quite widely.

[c4oyu4n]

Thank you for this insight.

However I'm neither an exchange student nor struggling to make ends meet. In fact I'm not hoping to draw any meaningful conclusions from these data. I only need them for the plain reasong of being able to hand them on to people who wont mak much use of them but putting them on a shelf.

Though I wonder because these must be some quite basic indices for economists. Market basket price index? Big Mac index? I'm no economist...

regards,

c4y

[jbradfor]

I only need them for the plain reasong of being able to hand them on to people who wont mak much use of them but putting them on a shelf.

:o :o :o

[abcdefg]

In fact I'm not hoping to draw any meaningful conclusions from these data.

Since your criteria are rather relaxed, I suppose you could just use this reference. It depicts Tianjin as being quite an inexpensive place to live, ranking right between Nbababe, Swaziland and Harare, Zimbabwe. Then you will be done and can move on to other more important projects.

http://www.articlesbase.com/international-business-articles/global-cost-of-living-ranking-1-april-2009-875632.html

[c4oyu4n]

just to complete this. Thanks for the experts tip: This site: http://www.stats.gov.cn/tjsj/ndsj/2009/indexeh.htm seemingly provides official numbers - but only when viewed with microsoft internet eplorer.

regards,

[James Johnston]

I always wanted to compile an index based on the minimum taxi fare in each city. It would be affected by the size of cities, but even so, I'm sure it would be a fantastically simple but useful indicator of variations in the cost of living across China and it would also be easy to track changes over time.

It's probably been done before somewhere on the Chinese web.

[gato]

Here is a list. I think it's a little out of date, though. The starting price for a ride is 12 yuan now instead of 11 (the price increase came last year).

http://club.autohome.com.cn/bbs/thread-a-100018-8584637-1.html

全国各地出租车起步价