Moving to Cotonou

In our series of short blogs on moving between different international locations, we highlight cost of living and other major differences likely to be experienced.
Today we look at moving to Cotonou in Benin from Perth in Australia.
In Perth people speak English. In Cotonou people speak French (official) Fon, Ge, Bariba, Yoruba and Dendi.

Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. Perth ranks fourth amongst the nation's cities, with a growth rate consistently above the national average. Cotonou is the economic capital of Benin, as well as its largest city.

Perth dominates the Western Australian economy by virtue of its population and role as the administrative centre for business and government, despite the major mining, petroleum and agricultural export industries located elsewhere in the state. Perth’s function as the State’s capital city, its economic base and population size have also created development opportunities for many other businesses oriented to local or more diversified markets.
Cotonou is Benin's largest city and houses many of its government and diplomatic services. The city is a major port, and is also home to an airport and a railway that links to Parakou.

The overall cost of living rank in Perth is 18 out of 300 global locations, which equates it with high cost of living locations. An expatriate moving from Perth to Cotonou which has an overall cost of living rank of 169, which equates it with middle cost of living locations, will experience a change in cost of living of -29%.
In terms of the hardship people are likely to experience, assessed in global terms, Cotonou is ranked as an extreme hardship location with a hardship index of 40% compared to Perth with a hardship index of 10% which is a minimal hardship location.

Source: http://www.xpatulator.com as at July 2011.