chirinea (47496) on 3/3/2016 4:50 PM · edited · Permalink · Report

Hey, Josh, hope it's not too late to wish you happy birthday. I love these threads, it's been a while since we discussed such matters. Well, here's my current situation.

I live in Vitória da Conquista, 3rd biggest city in Bahia State, Brazil, population about 340,000. My city is what we call a mid-sized city here, so it doesn't have the same standards of living as the capitals of the states have, but it also has better standards than smaller cities.

Public transport here is paid (we only have bus, bigger cities have metro; trains are almost extinct here, and that's a shame), the ticket costs R$ 2.80 (about US$ 0.77). You can either use a card with preloaded credit or pay on cash (there's still cashiers in every bus, but that doesn't happen in every city in Brazil). I don't use public transportation much, I drive my way around in my motorcycle or my wife's car. One liter of gasoline costs about R$ 3.85 (or 1 dollar).

Taxes: every year I have to fill a declaration, it's that time of the year by the way. It takes me 30 minutes to 1 hour to do so, as I have to manually enter all info (though I can import most from the last year's declaration). The Brazilian government has a software which is updated once every year, so we download it, fill the information and send the declaration online. Only people who earned more than R$ 28,123.91 (~ US$ 7,304.91) in 2015 have to declare. Depending on how much I've earned and how much I've spent, I get money back. Usually I get from R$ 1,400 to R$ 1,900 (US$ 363 to US$ 493) back every year.

Education: there are public (free) and private (paid) schools, from kindergarten to university. Usually private schools up to high school level are better than public ones, but it gets inverted for Universities, as the public ones are better. I work in a public University, my students don't pay and about half of them receive some kind of support money (R$ 400.00, ~ US$ 103.89). The support money can be given for several reasons, such as low household income, internships or for work as a researcher. The government has also a program to lend money for students who wish to go to private universities. To become a student in a public university people have to apply to a national test and get ranked, so they chose where to study depending on how well they went in the test. There are affirmative actions to grant spots for people with low income, black people, indigenous people and those who studied in public schools for most of their lives.

Movie tickets cost from 13 to 17 reais (3.37 to 4.41 dollars). We don't have Imax in my city, only 3D. Unfortunately most movies come dubbed, that's why I go to the movies so seldom.

Big Mac costs about R$ 22 (~US$ 5.71) with medium sized fries and 500 ml drink. Subway footlong costs the same, but just the sandwich. Several restaurants charge for kilogram, kilogram price can go from R$ 25 to 50 (~US$ 6.50 to 13). I usually spend about R$ 25,00 (R$ 6.50) in a meal with a beverage.

I must say that prices of food and transportation vary around the country.

Video games cost from 50 to 300 reais (~13 to 78 dollars). PC games are cheaper (hardly more than 200 reais or 52 dollars). Steam or Nuuvem are currently the best options here, as I can pay in reais with my national credit card. I can only buy games on GOG in dollars, so the prices are higher and I have to pay extra import taxes. Usually I get games on Steam for half or less of what I would pay on GOG.

We have public libraries, but I don't know of any good near my house. Health care is free, but the service isn't the best and it really depends on where you live. My parents live near an university hospital which has most health services, but they have to wait months for a consult sometimes. Of course there are free emergency services also, so I think the service there is quite good. Here in my city the public hospitals are not that good. Usually for routine consults people prefer to pay private doctors if they can afford. A consult usually costs 200 reais (~ 52 dollars). I have used the public service for a small surgery once, which would cost me 4,000 reais (~ 1,038 dollars) if I did it in a private hospital. It was 5 years ago, so prices may be higher nowadays. Dental care is also free, but not every health center has a dentist available, so I usually pay for the service. Prices are similar to those of consults with doctors.

Military service is mandatory for every man at the age of 18, but it is fairly common to be discharged. I didn't serve, for instance.

Funerals are not cheap, usually people pay for funeral services as they would for private health plans. My parents pay for such a service, and it allows for discounts in medical consults also (it's something like "well help you survive a little, but if you die we've got you covered").

As for religion, Brazil still is the biggest Catholic country in the world, though evangelical Christians are the second biggest religion around. Spiritism (Kardecism) is also huge, and African-brazilian religions are also fairly common.

Right now we have a really conservative congress, with lots of congressmen coming from religious background. Gay union is legal (but there's no "gay marriage" by law; gay people can get married, but it depends on what the judge will say. It is easier to just sign a gay civil union, which is covered by law). Abortion is only allowed in cases of rape or danger for the mother's life, but even in those cases it isn't easy to get one legally. Alcohol is allowed for people over 18. Smoking is prohibited in closed places (like bars or clubs), only allowed in open spaces or inside houses. Pot is illegal. Only people over 18 can drive. People over 16 can vote.

As for elections, we have municipal elections every 4 years (this year is one of them) and congress, state and presidential elections every 4 years, but 2 years after the municipal elections (so the next is in 2018). All elections are electronic, people get to voting machines and type the number corresponding to the candidates they want to vote for. The process takes less than 3 minutes. After the voting is closed, we get the results in less than 8 hours.

As for Netflix, the basic plan costs R$ 19.90 (~US$ 5.16). We have House of Cards and Daredevil, along with several other things. I'm actually cancelling my cable TV subscription because I don't watch it and I'll keep only Netflix.

I have to say that the dollar price went up a lot in the past year, from 2 reais to 4 reais some days. Day by day things didn't get much more expensive in the meantime, but some things became harder to buy, such as games in websites which only accept dollars.

Daniel Saner (3503) on 3/4/2016 2:34 PM · edited · Permalink · Report

I'll go for that!

I live in Switzerland, currently based in Lucerne but work in Zurich. Commonly known as one of the most expensive places to live, so this'll be fun.

Public transport infrastructure is excellent, probably one of the things Switzerland is known for. Almost every hamlet is connected to some bus line. It's also pretty expensive, though. The regular fare of my work commute, about 50 minutes by train, would be $25 each way in second class, $44 in first (all $ in USD; the exchange rate hovers arount 1:1 currently). Most residents own a "half fare" pass, which is $185 a year and gets you most tickets half price, so it pays off quickly. Basically, what the system does is fleece people for whom buying a long-term pass doesn't make sense, i.e. tourists.

I have a nation-wide pass with which I can take any train, tram, bus or ship in the country, which makes sense for long-distance commuters like me. I get substantial discounts because I'm employed at a federal university, but even at the regular price of $3650 it's cheaper than even just owning (not driving) a car. The excellent public transportation system is actually the reason why I still don't have my driver's license, which is a surprisingly common thing among younger people here. If you live in the city, for example, prepare to pay $200 or more a month just for a spot to park your car. Not that attractive. Rents in places like Zurich and Zug are insane. If you can find a 3.5-room apartment in downtown Zurich for less than $3000/mt., you've got yourself a nice deal. In less crowded areas like Lucerne, for example, you can just about halve that for an equivalent flat.

Education is not free but heavily subsidsed. When I was still studying, my semester enrolment fees were around $600. We also have relatively good scholarship systems, so student debt is not really a common problem here, although due to the high costs of living, being a full-time student still generally means living in a shoebox and living off pasta. There are private schools, but the quality of public education is very good, so they're not such a big thing. Most kids at private schools are there for things like bilingual education or extra support for special needs. The vast majority of pupils stay in public schools for the mandatory 9 years. Higher education is "guaranteed open" to all Swiss citizens with a qualifying degree, meaning a college or university is not allowed to make enrolment dependent on entry exams. In turn, they just do tough exams after the first year, weeding out about 50% of the students. We have similar rules that if you fail essential exams twice, you can't continue studying in related fields at publicly funded schools anymore.

Taxes... my return would be due soon, too. I personally don't take more than an hour to do the report, but it can become incredibly complicated when you own real estate, are self-employed, own shares, are married, etc. – there's an entire industry of tax experts relying on this complexity, so any political motions to simplify it, as often as they come about, generally don't stand a chance. They're doing the whole digitisation in baby steps. For about a decade now I have been able to fill out the report on my computer and just send in a signed 2D barcode. They still do a lot of scanning and printing though, I think they use a lot more paper now than before the digital tax forms. The goal is to go fully digital with online submission, though. Some cantons are already there, mine isn't. Taxation depends heavily on the canton in which you're registered, and VAT is about 8%.

Also not quite there is the online voting. Probably one of the other main things my country is known for, direct democracy to a sometimes ridiculous degree. There are about 4 voting sessions a year, combining several issues on the communal, cantonal, and national level. I can put in my YES or NO not just on the widely-publicised votes on things like migration policy or employee's rights (we famously declined, with a large margin of 65% no votes, raising the minimum number of yearly holidays for workers) but also sometimes annoyingly minute things. Also, anyone who can get 100,000 citizens to sign a petition can bring their cause to a vote, and if the public accepts the initiative, the government has to implement it. Mind you, in my 12 years of being allowed to vote, there hasn't been a single public initiative that both made sense, and was worded in even a barely tolerable quality. Never voted Yes in my life so far. They usually come up with strokes of genius like a recent one on that wanted to force the national bank to store all their gold within the country for crisis security, but the wording made it so that if that ever became necessary, they couldn't sell any of the gold. Brilliant. It still got 22.7% yes votes, which is one of the worst failures for an iniative ever, but considering it didn't make any sense in the first place, is still a bit embarrassing. Elections for cantonal and national representation are every four years each, and voter turnout is pretty low (45% average).

Movie tickets are between $13 and $20, depending on the day and theatre. The Big Mac is $6.50. I won't even check the Subway Footlong because Swiss Subway restaurants are one of the most disgusting things I know. A regular workday lunch will set you back between $10 and $20. A coffee is generally between $4 and $5. New AAA games tend to go for between $50 and $70. Buying retail is almost always significantly cheaper than Steam. It has only gotten worse since Steam introduced pricing in Swiss Francs. You often pay about double of what games cost at a local retailer. Netflix starts at $12 a month, but I hear a lot of stuff is missing. More important for me personally is Spotify Premium, which goes for $13/mt.

Military service is mandatory for all male citizens. It's normally 21 weeks for basic training, then another 3 weeks "refresher course" every year for about 6-7 years depending on your function. You stay in reserve until age 34 (I think). Everything is pretty oversized, they have a saying around here, "Switzerland doesn't have an army, it IS an army." I'm glad I'm through with it, although they did force me to promote up the degree of sergeant (which they can do if there are not enough volunteers) so instead of the usual 260 service days, I did almost 400... there are alternatives though, you can choose to do civil service instead, although as a proof that you do it for reasons of conscience, you'll have to serve 1.5 times as many days. You can also get dismissed for medical or other reasons, but then you'll have to pay a certain percentage of your salary until you are, I think, 40 years old.

Basic medical insurance is mandatory and pretty expensive, relatively speaking. The quality of care is excellent, though. I don't think many people would have it any other way. It might be a considerable expense, probably right after rent and taxes, but in turn you don't need to worry about monetary issues when you do end up needing medical assistance. Dental is not covered, for that you'd have to get private insurance atop the mandatory one.

Religion: there are both Catholic and Protestant cantons, but apart from holidays, the church's influence is not big on everyday life. It's a very secular country, and we generally dislike people making a public fuss about their religious views. Among my generation it's very rare to find someone who would identify as religious. Many of them are still church members on paper, though, including me, so the official numbers are not an accurate reflection of beliefs.

Our government is pretty centrist, we have the few far right ones who think it might be nice to build a wall around the country, and the few far left ones who still think communism might be a swell idea. In general, though, our political system makes it tough for extremist positions to make headway, and if they do, we still have the safeguard of a public referendum. Here, the absurd slowness of direct democracy is really an advantage, because until the reactionist over-the-top ideas are all debated and voted on, the heat of the moment has usually passed and people have a more balanced perspective. I don't see any danger of our government tipping to either side imminently.

We don't have gay marriage, but civil unions which are for the most part legally identical; I hear the process of allowing gay marriage is in progress without much opposition. In great Swiss federal tradition, abortion was handled differently in every canton, as well. Since 2002 though, we have a national law that makes abortion legal up to the end of the first trimester; beyond that, a doctor needs to sign off that there is a medical risk to the pregnancy, which can be either physical or mental.

Light alcohol (beer, wine, cider) is legal from 16 years, the harder stuff from 18. Public drinking is legal, as long as you don't litter or bother others. Leading to many an uncomfortable situation because it's a pretty alien concept for us that there are places in the world where you can't sit in the park and drink a beer – so we forget. Tobacco is legally sold to people over 16; most public places are by default smoke-free, but adhering to some rules, restaurants and bars can declare themselves a smokers' venue (up to a certain size). Cannabis is illegal, but has been reduced from a crime to a minor offence that just carries a fine. In my canton there was a time where consumption was legal, but sale and possession weren't, so I guess if you saw the police coming, you just had to light up whatever you were carrying immediately. Judging by the current policital climate, I bet it's going to be fully legalised within a few years.

Adzuken (836) on 3/4/2016 6:16 PM · Permalink · Report

I live in the city of Kitchener, in the province of Ontario, Canada. When included in the tri-cities (Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo), it is the 10th largest city in Canada by population with around 477,000 people.

The public transportation system in Canada is pretty terrible, and Kitchener is no exception. Canada's a big place with a lot of people spread thinly. Citizens must pay for transit, which includes buses and a commuter train to Toronto that only runs on weekdays in the early morning. The city is currently implementing a light rail transit system. I don't own a car, so I mostly walk everywhere.

Tax time is coming up, but I've always handed it off to my parents' accountant, so I'm not sure how long it would take. We pay a 13% sales tax on most things purchased here in Ontario.

Education is universal until post-secondary, where tuition fees are astronomical. Scholarships are available, but most people go into the workforce with a tremendous student loan debt. Private schools are available, but I don't know many people who attended. There's also French immersion schools to encourage bilingualism. French classes are also mandatory until the 10th grade, but most people in Ontario finish without even basic communication skills.

Movie ticket prices vary, but are usually around $11 Canadian for general admission.

I have no idea how much a Big Mac is, I haven't been to McDonald's in yonks. A Subway footlong is between $5.50 to $8. For a AAA game, you're typically looking at $70-$80. It has gone up recently because our dollar's value has dropped significantly over the past year.

There's no mandatory military service here.

Libraries are free. Our healthcare is also free with numerous caveats, but prescription medication isn't. Our healthcare tends to be legendarily slow, as many doctors opt to work in the US where the pay is better. It can also take a long time to find a family doctor.

We're still a constitutional monarchy and part of the Commonwealth of Nations, so technically we're ruled by Queen Elizabeth II, or more directly by her appointed governor general, but most Canadians believe the Prime Minister runs the country. Currently we have a majority left-wing liberal government which just took power in the fall following an election. We have elections every four years unless the governor general decides to have it early, or if there's a vote of no confidence.

We've had same-sex marriage in Canada since 2005. I don't recall much opposition to it, and it passed rather quietly. Abortion is legal. Marijuana is a grey area that seems to change frequently, though I believe legalizing it completely is on the current government's to-do list. Smoking is prohibited in public places, and even within a certain distance from some buildings.

We've got a lot of churches here in Canada, but most Canadians consider religion to be a private matter and unimportant. We have no official religion. Because Canada is such a diverse place, many religions are practiced, with Islam being the second most practiced behind Christianity/Catholicism.

Netflix is between $8 and $12 a month. We don't have as much selection as Americans, but what's there is pretty substantial. Most people still opt to connect to VPNs over the border.

Donatello (466) on 3/16/2016 11:31 PM · Permalink · Report

Well, you'd have to state the median/medium household income to make prices comparable.

Unicorn Lynx (181780) on 3/26/2016 6:07 AM · Permalink · Report

Wow, FB strikes back with more interesting topics!

Ok. I live in Shanghai, the biggest city in the world (if counted by city proper). Here are some prices for comparison:

I pay about 800$ per month for a one-room apartment. It's very expensive, but it's right in the middle of French Concession, the city's most lucrative district. If I chose to live away from the center I could have rented a nice two-room apartment for the same money, but then I'd have to pay for the taxi every day when returning from the jazz club where I play. As it is, it's walking distance.

Big Mac is about 2.5$ I think. But you can also eat a whole nice Chinese meal for 3-4 bucks per person. There is a lot of cheap food here. Also a lot of crazy expensive one. Shanghai is a city of contrasts.

Taxis are cheap. 2$ basic fare. The cheapest thing in Shanghai, however, is service. You can hire a cleaning lady for 4$ per hour or so.

I perform over 20 times per month currently in a jazz club. Each time I earn 120$. I charge about 75$ for a private piano lesson.