The most expensive cities in the Arab World

I found by coincidence in Al-Jazeera talk in an image not even in a post and I thought it is so interesting and it is worth sharing with you .

Already it made me happy and it give me a great hope.To be more honest I was so happy for the first time that we are not the number one in some list :) ironic, is not it ??

Ok here are the list of the most expensive cities in the Arab world for year 2007 ,the criteria used here is the cost of living

1- Amman-Jordan "population = 1,576,238 "*

2- Dubai-UAE "Population =1,204,000"

3- Casablanca-Morocco "Population = 3,850,000"

4- Abu-Dhabi- UAE "Population= 1,850,000"

5- Manama-Bahrain "Population = 163,696"

6- Doha-Qatar "Population =339,847"

7- Riyadh-KSA "Population =4,700,000"

8- Muscat-Oman "Population =606,024"

9- Kuwait City-Kuwait "Population =32,500"**

10- Jeddah-KSA "Population =3,400,000"

11- Khobar-KSA "Population =165,799"

12- Cairo-Egypt "Population = 7,734,334 -trophy "

13- Algiers-Algeria "Population =1,519,570"

14-Damascus-Syria "Population=4,500,000"

It is surprising to me on many levels

First because it is different from the most expensive world cities list for year 2007 that was published in last June ,as from comparing the Arab countries in the list which was prepared by Mercer Consulting and research group you will find that only three Arab countries mentioned in the report do not have the same ranking at all in this Al-Jazeera list !!

The three countries respectively are :

- Dubai and its rank in the Mercur's report is the 35th where as in the Al-Jazeera's report it is 2nd !!

-Abu-Dhabi and its rank in the Mercur's report is the 45th where as in the Al-Jazeera's report it is the 4th !!

-Algiers and its rank in the Mercur's report is the 50th Where as in the Al-Jazeera's report it is the 13th !!!

accordingly logic says that Dubai, Abu-Dhabi and Algiers should occupy the first three ranks in the Al-Jazeera's report which I do not know its source till more specifically

Second ,it is surprise for me because I did not think  that Amman is the most expensive city in the Arab world , may be because I believed that cities like Dubai are more expensive. Here we are talking the Costs of living , not the Luxury life , but the normal cost of living . It is a big surprise because I though that Cairo is much more expensive than Amman , it is not only about Amman but also Casablanca

And this is the third surprise happy Surprise , Cairo is the 12th oh yes there are other more expensive cities in the Arab world despite our bad economic situation that is going from bad to worst

Also Beirut is not included , I do not know why !!??

Here are some quick statistical conclusions from this list :

• 10 from the the 14 cities are the capitals of their countries
• 9 cities from the 14 are from the Gulf area "majority" and considered from the rich , the very rich countries in the Arab world
• 2 cities from the 14 can be considered the economic capital of their countries "Dubai and Casablanca"
• 3 Cities are from Africa "Casablanca,Cairo and Algiers"
• Two countries only have more than one city in the list "UAE represented by Dubai and Abu-Dhabi" and "KSA represented by Riyadh,Jeddah and Khobar"
• All the gulf states are present in the list ,the members of CCG
• All the cities in the list are ruled by a Monarchy System or a tribal Monarchy system in Case of Kuwait and UAE , except 3 countries which are Cairo ,Algiers and Damascus
• All the countries in the list are working according the Open market system except Syria which still is working according to the centralizing market system despite the claims of economic reforms
• All the cities except Amman,Casablanca, Cairo and Damascus are in countries that are considered Raw Materials economies , they are post industrial economies "yes do not be surprise, this is the true economy as long as the main source of income in the Gulf and Algeria is the Oil .
• Amman,Casablanca,Cairo and Damascus are from the Industrialized economies countries "In transition to industrial economy" or what is known now as Newly Industrialized economy
• The average Per Capita income in the Arab world is about $$2100-2300

Unfortunately we would have much more easier way to investigate this list if we got accurate numbers about many factors on which we can reach to the conclusion or that list , these factors include beside the population which I found the Per Capita income, the unemployment rate , the GDP of the city ...etc

It is a mission impossible to find any valid numbers in the Arab world , it is enough to say that I found the Jordanian officials did not update their statistical website which I posted its link below since 1994 !! Yes since the day of King Hussein !!!

Still I can't believe that Amman is more expensive than Dubai , seriously people there is something wrong , may be my Jordanian friends and visitors can tell us if really their capital deserves to be on the top of the list of the most expensive Arab cities for 2007 !!

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* Based upon the official Census of Jordan in 1994 ,I Could not find more recent official figure

** I can't believe that this population number in Kuwait city

Technorati tags: Arab, regional, Most expensive Arab cities, Economy, Lists, Al-Jazeera, Cairo, Amman, Dubai, Damascus, Casablanca, Khobar, Jeddah, Riyadh, Abu-Duhabi, Doha, Algiers, Gulf, Africa