Hello everyone! I’m @olivertomolife and I’ve studied abroad in Sydney!
I often hear that the cost of living in Austria is high, but have you ever wondered why that is?
I’d like to share with you some of the reasons why the cost of living is so high in Austria.
- If you are planning to study in Australia in the future, you may want to know about prices.
- I want to know about the difference in prices between Japan and Austria.
- Want to know the difference between Japan and Austria
- 5 Reasons Why Prices are High in Australia
- 3 Australian products that I found expensive
- 3 Australian products that I found cheap
- If you want to save money, choose the suburbs
I studied in Sydney for a year starting in 2018. Now I am writing a blog about my experience.
By reading this post, you’ll get to know about the cost of living in Australia!
5 Reasons Why Australia is Expensive
1 Extreme population density
In Austria, the population is densely concentrated in large cities such as Sydney and Melbourne.
As a result, prices tend to rise in places where people gather.
The more central you are in any city, the higher the prices tend to be.
2 The country is large in area
Austria has the sixth largest land area in the world at 7,692,024㎢, so you can see how large the country is.
The fact that the country is so large means that transportation costs are also higher than in other countries, and this is included in the reason why prices are so high.
Therefore, the need for a car is higher outside of urban areas.
3 Population and land area are inversely proportional
Since the population is extremely small compared to the land area, there is a shortage of labor.
Therefore, labor costs are rising in places where there is a shortage of people in the suburbs.
They are implementing policies to attract people to the suburbs in each municipality.
4 The country’s industries are unevenly distributed
Austria is a country with a strong primary industry such as agriculture, so it is weak in terms of industry.
Therefore, factories need to be built in the suburbs where land is large.
And since the factories are located in the suburbs, transportation costs are high.
On the other hand, Austria’s food self-sufficiency rate is over 100%.
5 Dependence on imports for processed goods
Most of the home appliances in Austria are imported.
Therefore, the cost of importing from abroad is high, which has an impact on the rise in prices.
While studying in Austria, I have mostly only seen products from Europe and Asia.
Three Australian products that I found expensive in supermarkets
The exchange rate of Australia to Japan as of May 2021 is $1 to 84yen.
1 Coca-Cola
Juices are very expensive in Austria!
A 500ml bottle of Coca-Cola costs more than $3.5 Austrian dollars, which is almost 300 yen in Japanese yen.
And the vending machines can be even more expensive…
If you are in the mood for juice, choose a less famous brand from the supermarket and you’ll save money!
2 Seafood
I felt that not many people eat fish in Austria.
This is because the fish section of the supermarket is very small.
And there are only a few kinds of fish for sale, mostly salmon.
The salmon cost $15 Austrian dollars for 500 grams.
In Japanese yen, that’s 1200 yen…
That’s why sushi in Austria is more expensive than in Japan…
On the other hand, frozen foods such as fried fish are inexpensive and highly recommended.
3 Desserts
When you go to coles, you can find desserts near the entrance, but they are also expensive.
Most of the whole cakes cost more than $15 Australian dollars.
In Japanese yen, that would be about 1200 yen.
On the other hand, you can buy ice cream at a discount because the supermarket has its own brand!
Three Australian products that I found cheap in supermarkets
1 Vegetables
Vegetables in Austria are bigger and cheaper than those in Japan.
Especially onions and tomatoes can be bought for $2~3 Austrian dollars for 1kg!
They are sometimes cheaper in the city markets than in supermarkets.
2 Milk
The thing that surprised me the most was how cheap milk was.
A 2 liter bottle costs only $2 Australian dollars!
It’s interesting that it’s cheaper than the coke and water they sell.
Milk is almost the same price in all supermarkets, which is a big help.
3 Bread and rice
Bread and rice, which are staple foods, are also cheap.
Bread is very inexpensive at $1 Australian dollars per bag, and there is a good quantity of it.
Rice is also inexpensive at about $3 per kilogram, which is great for those who cook for themselves.
You can also choose from various types of rice, from Thai rice to Indian rice.
If you want to save money, choose the suburbs
The easiest way to save money is to live in the suburbs.
Prices are cheaper than in the cities, so you’ll benefit from that!
Especially for rent, you may be able to live in a luxurious house in the suburbs.
Especially in the suburbs, you may be able to live in a luxurious house.
Since shared houses are the norm in Australia, you can find even better conditions in the suburbs.
In recent years, there have been some problems such as rising real estate prices in Australia, but I don’t think this will have much impact on study abroad and working holidays.
Conclusion
- High prices are related to population density and land area.
- Coke is more expensive than milk, that’s Australia
- If you want to save money, cook for yourself or live in the suburbs
This is a summary of the cost of living in Australia!
I hope this will be helpful to you when you come to Australia to study or travel.
I hope this helps you when you study or travel to Australia.
Thank you for reading to the end!
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