Hi friends and subscribers, welcome back to my YouTube channel, my name is Daniel Rosal, and this channel focuses on life on the ground in Jerusalem and Israel. As I've mentioned here, countless times the cost of living is one of the most pressing, social and economic issues facing Israeli society. Despite this, it tends to be eclipsed on the political agenda by security issues or more recently by the highly controversial judicial reform legislation that is polarizing public opinion in Israel. Over the years, countless statistics have come out affirming just how serious the cost of living in Israel is. Quite famously, Tel Aviv was once ranked as the most expensive city in the world, although it often ranks slightly below other absurdly expensive places like Hong Kong, Singapore and New York City. Israel's real estate has often been estimated to be among the most expensive per square meter anywhere on the planet, and relative to purchasing power, Israel was once again ranked as having the highest cost of living of any country in the OECD. On Sunday, the startlingly high cost of living in Israel was once again affirmed when the OECD, the organization for economic cooperation and development, released price index data for 2022. The OECD is a 38-country grouping of mostly developed countries with Costa Rica joining the organization as the newest member in 2021. As Israel is a developed economy and OECD member states commit to rigorous data collection standards, the OECD has long served as a useful international benchmark for Israel to compare itself against other countries and measures like income inequality rates of poverty and levels of education. Israel joined the OECD in September 2020. According to the latest set of findings, the price index in Israel is 38% higher than the OECD average. The price level index is calculated by comparing purchasing power priorities or PPPs with market exchange rates and the average across member states is 100 or the baseline. The country was the highest price index after Israel was Switzerland and the average for the 27 member states of the European Union was 85-15% below the average for the OECD. The European average was weighed down by cheaper Eastern European countries while the OECD average was floated up by the inclusion of expensive non-EU countries like Israel, the US and Australia. Israel's worsening score in the table was contained in a report entitled main economic indicators issue 8 of 2023. The so-called price index is derived by comparing various countries purchasing price indices or PPPs and weighing them against international exchange rates. Consumer price indices in turn are calculated by rounding up a representative basket of goods that consumers purchase. According to a methodological note released by the organization in March of this year, the CPIs are based on data reported by countries statistical bodies and are compiled in accordance with international statistic guidelines and recommendations. Dr. Yenai Spitzer from the Department of Economics at the Hebrew University criticized the findings telling the Calcalist financial newspaper that it was difficult to compare the cost of living between countries. He cited it as an example the fact that heating is less of a requirement in Israel than in northern European countries during the winter time, yet it's given equivalent weight and the basket of goods used to compare the cost of living. However, Rand Tomer of the Israeli Association of Manufacturers told the Times of Israel that the data indicated structural problems in the Israeli economy like the high VAT rate on food and the consequences of over-regulation. What do you think about the cost of living in Israel? Are you feeling the pinch? Leave your thoughts in the comments and if you want to receive more videos about happenings on the ground in Israel and Jerusalem, then please consider subscribing to this YouTube channel.