11 Most Expensive Countries in Europe

Europe is divided between 50 countries both rich and poor, and we’ll bring you the list of 11 most expensive countries in Europe. Even within the European Union, the gap between members can be wide indeed, and the same is happening with the rest of the continent. While someone might think that rest of non-EU countries have weaker economies, for changing their mind it’s often enough just to take a look at Switzerland or Norway, for instance, as they aren’t the member states.

Here’s a list of 11 most expensive countries in Africa as well, since most of these countries used to be directly subjugated by some of European colonial powers that are about to make this list. We have decided to trace the data from Numbeo for the entire year 2015. While being open-contributor service, Numbeo still provides the highly relevant data – especially for developed countries where it can easily be checked.

Being an expensive country doesn’t necessarily mean that nation’s citizens can’t afford the basics. As you’ll see in a short while, all of these countries are long-developed and feature strong economies that allow their citizens cushy life, overall. We have taken respective country’s consumer price index, rent index and groceries index as most relevant tools for calculating the expensiveness. We could have taken the local population purchasing power and some other luxurious indexes like restaurant price index into consideration as well, but have ultimately decided to go along without them. People can certainly live without restaurants, and local population’s purchasing power doesn’t have much to do with the topic. Of course that it impacts citizen’s overall living conditions a great deal, but that only works for those living and/or working there. If you’re visiting a country, on the other hand – this indicator won’t affect you. Finally, nicely rounded index of 100 has been taken as a base value. It correlates to the prices in New York and you can simply compare it to any other number like it’s a percentage. Here’s our final list of 11 most expensive countries in Europe ranked by ascending order of the overall value of three mentioned criterions – from least to most expensive. Oh, and do bear in mind that number 11 on our list isn’t exactly the least expensive European country. It’s only one of those slightly less expensive ones.

11. Sweden

Overall price index: 63.04

Scandinavia is definitely the most developed part of Europe as every single country from this northern peninsula finds its place on this list. Sweden is slightly less expensive than others, but this doesn’t have to be the case in every city – only overall. Consumer price index rates at 82.91, while rents come to only 27.49 of the New York values. However, groceries are rather expensive still given their index of 78.72.

10. Belgium

Overall price index: 65.91

Benelux group certainly follows Scandinavia in ways of both expensiveness and high standards. CPI in Belgium amounts to 87.22, while grocery basket has the index of 79.54. Similar to Sweden in all three categories, rents are also close to the index of 30.96.

9. Finland

Overall price index: 67.95

Another Scandinavian country, Finland showcases similar patterns to those of Sweden when it comes to prices. Consumer price index is slightly higher, though and amounts to 89.68. Groceries too can be slightly more expensive with the index of 84.3, and rents are similar coming to 29.87.

8. France

Overall price index: 68.27

Paris is one of the most expensive cities in the world and it’s no wonder why France manages to find its spot on this list of 11 most expensive countries in Europe. CPI, rent and groceries indexes read 88.37, 31.13 and 85.3 respectively, and this goes for the entire country. You can bet that prices in French capital are overly higher, though.

7. Republic of Ireland

Overall price index: 71.57

The Republic of Ireland has gone through a major crisis during the recent recession years that came as a shock to a population that has finally gotten used to high standards after centuries of poverty. From near bankruptcy, Ireland has managed to become stable in a matter of few short years and now has a CPI of 92.09. Grocery basket index is 85.14, and rents amount to more than one-third of those in the Big Apple, at 37.47.

6. United Kingdom

Overall price index: 71.99

London rates similarly to New York with CPI slightly above 100 index points. Rest of the country follows a similar pattern with CPI amounting to 92.19 and groceries index coming to 84.58. Only rents are generally lower than in London with the index of 39.19.

5. Denmark

Overall price index: 74.63

Denmark is a country well-known for its high tax rates and prices too, as we can see by its strong position on our list of 11 most expensive countries in Europe. CPI is a close replica to that of New York, amounting to 100.6 points. Rents are much lower, though, coming to only 34.71 index points, but groceries do cost a lot with the index of 88.58.

4. Luxembourg

Overall price index: 77.06

One of smallest European countries by size is at the same time one of most developed ones. Prices are naturally high in such conditions, and three indexes amount to 91.78, 62.31 and 77.1 respectively for the CPI, rent, and groceries. You’ll note that the rent index is rather high for an EU country (highest on the list).

3. Iceland

Overall price index: 80.59

Land of ice and fire manages to combine all of its resources in order to offer the best possible conditions of life to its citizens. Icelanders have also managed to bail out their country from bankruptcy in record time. CPI in Iceland amounts to hefty 102.14 points, and groceries come at 103.76 index points. Only rent is lower, much due to already mentioned natural resources (geyser water used for heating), and comes to 35.86.

2. Norway

Overall price index: 92.45

The most expensive Scandinavian country is Norway – without any doubt. An oil-rich country with almost trillion dollars worth of “rainy days” citizens’ fund exhibits exorbitant CPI and groceries indexes coming to 118.59 and 110.06 respectively. Rents are slightly lower overall, being only at half value of those in New York (48.7), but even these are much higher in large cities.

1. Switzerland

Overall price index: 104.03

The top spot on this list of 11 most expensive countries in Europe belongs to Switzerland. Like Norway in number two spot, Alpine country too is not part of the EU. The overall price index is higher than that of New York, even with lower rent index of only 57.36 points. This speaks a lot of CPI and groceries indexes that amount to 126.03 and 128.44 respectively. Furthermore, no less than 5 Swiss cities find their spot among 10 most expensive ones in Europe with Geneva and Zurich leading the list with CPI’ close to 150.