Moving to Riyadh

Today we look at moving to Riyadh in Saudi Arabia from St. Petersburg in Russia. We highlight cost of living and other major differences likely to be experienced in our series of short blogs on moving between different international locations.
In Riyadh people speak Arabic. In St. Petersburg people speak Russian.

Riyadh is the capital and largest city of Saudi Arabia. Moscow is the capital and the largest city of Russia. Riyadh is a large metropolis and is a focal point for both travel and trade. Moscow is one of largest city economies in Europe and it comprises approximately 20% of Russian GDP.
The overall cost of living rank in Riyadh is 207 out of 300 global locations, which equates it with low cost of living locations.  An expatriate moving from St. Petersburg to Riyadh will experience a change in cost of living of -27.9%.

In terms of the hardship people are likely to experience, assessed in global terms, Riyadh is ranked as a high degree of hardship location with a hardship index of 30% compared to St. Petersburg with a hardship index of 30% which is a high degree of hardship location.

Source: Cost of living Riyadh Saudi Arabia as at July 2011.