Dubai World's 7th Most Expensive City

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Re: Dubai World's 7th Most Expensive City

Xeno, you are right. As someone who has experience of both the lands , I find Dubai still affordable as compared to the london lifestyle .

Its the system that is screwed up in Dubai ... whilst us in the UK , despite living in an expensive place , we dont feel the crunch that much. The UK , government has strict price controls in place and laws that protect people equally , and not on the basis of their races ...

In dubai on the other hand, salaries largely depend on your nationality, the laws too are very racist.. so there is no protection for average joe against rising rents / cost of groceries , medical ( which is not available to exptriates even when they are ready to pay for it ! ) , schooling etc ...

In a nutshell, despite paying taxes and life being expensive here in the UK, I feel I have access to the basic amenities in life ...

But when I see my friends back home , I realize they are fighting for survival because the government has no control or laws to keep the inflation in control. Salaries are not rising at the speed on which they are making life expensive in Dubai. But its still affordable for those who are earning anything around Dhs 20K and onwards ...

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Re: Dubai World's 7th Most Expensive City

Dubai .. Huh , who wants to live with camels :)

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Re: Dubai World's 7th Most Expensive City

^There is no harm living with the camels. Thousands of people used to, thousands still do.

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Re: Dubai World’s 7th Most Expensive City

I personally feel its good enough for a holiday .. but for living longer term , :nessy:

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Gina, let me just clarify something. Getting your fuel tank full also depends on the size of the fuel tank itself. It is a jeep with a high capacity then yes it reaches 130 dirhams even but if it is a car then it stays around 80. Not sure about Saudia but I know about Kuwait and it is not so cheap there anymore too.

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Your opinion.

Iran cancels Pakistan gas pipeline loan
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well , most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation.

why should one be like them :)

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Re: Dubai World's 7th Most Expensive City

It's not like you are not doing what someone else is doing. Living in Pakistan, you are like the thousands that live there. Difference is you live amongst bher bakriyan, gaiyein etc. We live amongst camels and personally I prefer camels over bakriyan any day.

Our thoughts are also never 100% ours, we get influenced by others etc. Plus god has not made us to be a loner in the world. You have to be like someone else in order to get along with them.

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Re: Dubai World's 7th Most Expensive City

Nodding the head does not row the boat :)

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Re: Dubai World's 7th Most Expensive City

Yeh you are right. It does not, however you are still on the boat.

Anyways, good day to you.

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[note] Guys can we stick to the topic here?[/note]

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same here!

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  1. You are right , Salaries do depends on Color of PassPort(Nationality)
  2. Laws are Not too racist, but may be because communication gap our people could not advocate themselves well.
  3. You are right that there is no Protection for Expats in rising rents/cost of groceries.

  4. Medical , I think is the Most easily accessible amenity in UAE for every one (irespective of Nationality , profession or religion) , it is because of their Mandatory Medical Insurance Policy for every one.( without which visa couldnot be stamped for any resident ).

  5. Schooling , I think is the most basic Problem here for expats.
    You will not find good school (Pakistani/Indian) near to you or will be travelling much for its access.

Although arabic Schools are in abundon but our people will not send children to Arabic Schools.

a question arises that why , people still go to gulf countries I think a good reply is here

Plus ,
there friendly Visa Policy
Second Muslim Country and our People will Preferly opt for it.

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Your point is So valid, that is why that our People are making so many compromises on accomodation , children brought up and other basic amenities.

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Ok, let me try to explain it to you with figures:

UK: Family of 4 (dad, mum, 2 children) lives in an average neighbourhood, drives an average car, etc. Their monthly income is X and their monthly expenses are Y. Then X-Y is the average saving of a UK vamily.

UAE: Family of 4 does not live together. Dad lives in the UAE, mum and the 2 children live in Pakistan. Dad does not own a car, shares a room with 5 others and doesn't really spend much on himself. His monthly income is A, his (limited) monthly expenses are B. And what he does with A-B is: He sends that money back to Pakistan. The lower living costs in Pakistan allow his family to live an average life style in Pakistan on his A-B. But if they were to live in the UAE with him B would go up significantly due to the high living costs of the UAE. For the average family A-B would be a negative figure.

So in comparision:

A (average UAE income) is much lower than X (average UK income)
B (average UAE expenses) is lower than Y (average UK expenses) only, if the family lives seperated from each other
B is probably as high as Y if not higher, if the whole family lives in the UAE

I hope the maths make a bit of sense now.

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Actually the UK situation will be more like 20,000 GBP in credit card dept, 200K GBP in mortgage and 30K GBP in car loans :D

One question about your description of Dubai. But then how are there so many people with families living in Dubai? I mean it's like normal for Pakistani professionals to be living with family. There are several on this forum and I am sure you know several in real life also. Should I think that is out of ordinary and most Pakistani professionals do not live with family.

Just reading this forum and another Pakistani car related forum, I get a very different picture of Dubai from what you are describing. You pretty much described how life was in KSA for a lot of Pakistanis. Way back in the early 80's a lot of people we knew had family living with them. But by the late 80's and 90 as expenses grew, kids got older, benefits tightened, a lot of them moved back and did the same thing you mentioned (us included).

Back in the day they would actually return your life insurance contributions every so many years. For a lot of people that was an additional full year's pay.

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Re: Dubai World's 7th Most Expensive City

I though Dubai was one of the cheapest place to shop.

Timepass-December 2013
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Re: Dubai World's 7th Most Expensive City

I LOVE Dubai <3

~* Ja December Ja mein nahi bolta*~
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:-) Umer bhai In UK it's next to impossible to support family of 4 with one income which doesn't reflect on family's decent living standard UNLESS family is getting family support benefits OR earner is in considerably higher income bracket (at least twice than average income).

Now back to your example and maths. (for the family of 4 in UK & UAE)

lets assume that X (average UK take home income) is equal to 3xA (average UAE income)

so if Y (UAE expenses) = B (UK expenses)

then it means person in UK will have atleast 2XA savings at the end of the month. which is not true, infact he needs Z (extra Uk Income) to match Y (UK expensess).

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How come London is not there?