A recent study showed Kuwait is the cheapest Gulf country in the first half of 2022 and the ninth cheapest in the Arab world. The ranking by Numbeo, the world’s largest cost of living database, includes costs of groceries, eating out at restaurants, transportation and utilities.
Athoob Al-Shuaibi, a Kuwaiti currently living in Dubai, told Kuwait Times that Dubai is considered expensive in some ways compared to Kuwait. Regarding real estate, Shuaibi noted Dubai is a lot cheaper than Kuwait. For Razi Salman, who used to live in Saudi Arabia, the cost of living in Kuwait is similar to Saudi Arabia, but there is a good difference in prices. As for the cost of education in Kuwait, he said this generally ranges between KD 400 to 800 annually per child, without the cost of additional children’s activities.
Meanwhile, Kuwait is third in the Gulf and Arab countries in terms of rental hikes, after Qatar and the UAE. Numbeo calculated the estimated monthly expenses for a family of four is KD 783.790 without rent, and KD 209.110 for a single person without rent. The study revealed the cost of living in Kuwait is, on average, 34.25 percent lower than in the United States, while the rent is, on average, 41.04 percent lower than in the US.
