ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Cost of living index

Have you ever heard people say that living in one city or country is more expensive than living in another? The cost of living index is a way to measure how much money you need in order to live in different places around the world.

Basically, the cost of living index looks at how much different things cost in different places, such as food, rent, transportation, and healthcare. Once they have all of this information, they use a formula to calculate a number that represents the overall cost of living in that place.

For example, if you were to compare the cost of living in Tokyo, Japan to the cost of living in a small town in the United States, you might find that Tokyo has a higher cost of living index. This means that on average, things like food and rent are more expensive in Tokyo than they are in that small town in the US.

The cost of living index can be helpful for people who are thinking about moving to a new place and want to know how much money they will need to make in order to afford living there. It can also be useful for companies who need to figure out how much to pay their employees who work in different locations around the world.

Overall, the cost of living index is a way to compare how expensive different places are to live in.