Cost of living in United Arab Emirates
68.8 with the United States at 100
Prices in United Arab Emirates are 31% cheaper than the United States, and it ranks 59th of 204 countries by price level (dearest first). Figures are for 2025.
Against New Zealand it is 23% cheaper.
Compared with its region
United Arab Emirates against the Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan & Pakistan countries closest to it on price level.
- United Arab Emirates 68.8
- Malta 69.0
- Lebanon 65.3
- Qatar 75.7
- Kuwait 59.8
- Saudi Arabia 49.9
- Djibouti 49.8
- Bahrain 48.8
- Oman 47.3
SOURCE·World Bank — International Comparison Program·PPP conversion factor for household final consumption, and the official market exchange rate. CC BY 4.0.·REVIEWED AUG 2026
What is dear and what is cheap
No category breakdown is published for United Arab Emirates. Eurostat's category price levels cover Europe and a handful of others; United Arab Emirates is outside that programme, so this site has a national figure and no basket detail. Rather than borrow a plausible number from a neighbour, the gap is left where it is.
What this figure is, and is not
- It is an index, not a price. 68.8 means the general level of consumer prices, with the US at 100. It is not a shopping bill and this site never quotes one.
- It is national, not city. Abu Dhabi is almost certainly dearer than this. National averages cannot answer a city question.
- It is not your budget. What you actually spend depends on rent, transport and habits far more than on the national average.
Compare United Arab Emirates with another country
Every pairing below is a page of its own, with the category detail side by side. Nearest on price level first.
How the price level is worked out
- The World Bank publishes a purchasing power parity for household consumption — how much local currency buys the same basket as one US dollar — and the official market exchange rate for the same year.
- The price level is simply PPP ÷ exchange rate × 100. If a basket needs 1.50 New Zealand dollars per US dollar of purchasing power but the market hands you 1.65 New Zealand dollars for that dollar, New Zealand's prices sit at 1.50 ÷ 1.65 = 91% of the US level.
- Nothing is modelled, smoothed or estimated. You can reproduce every number on this site from two public figures.
- Where Eurostat also publishes a price level for the same country and year, the two are compared and the gap is printed — including when they disagree.
SOURCE·World Bank — International Comparison Program·PPP conversion factor for household final consumption, and the official market exchange rate. CC BY 4.0.·REVIEWED AUG 2026
SOURCE·World Bank ICP PPPs + Eurostat price level indices·price levels derived as PPP ÷ exchange rate, see method·REVIEWED AUG 2026
