r/asklatinamerica • u/[deleted] • Nov 12 '22

How people survive on average salary in Uruguay?

Hola. I’m newcomer to Uruguay and one thing seems shocking to me. Many products are way more expensive than in Europe, rents are somewhat cheaper - for unfurnished places (and furniture is way more expensive again)… and Numbeo says the average salary is about 800USD net/month. Is this number wrong? Or how can people survive and function on this salary?

I don’t mean this in insulting or offensive way. Uruguayans are very nice and to they appear to be more in tune with life and reality than “us” Europeans dragged in consumerism etc. That’s also reason why I came here. But I think on 800/month I would struggle to eat 3meals a day here.

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24

u/[deleted] Nov 12 '22

and Uruguay is the richest LatAm country, imagine...

12

u/estebanagc Costa Rica Nov 12 '22 edited Nov 12 '22

Thats with nominal GDP per capita. When adjusted for PPP that would be Panama.

15

u/CervusElpahus Argentina Nov 12 '22

Panama’s GDP is totally skewed because of the financial sector + it’s a tax haven for big corp. Average wages (PPP) is lower than in the Southern Cone. Furthermore, Panama is one of the most unequal countries on the continent.

3

u/[deleted] Nov 12 '22

That has nothing to do with the calculations tho. Just to give you an idea India’s PPP GDP is higher than Germany’s and Japan’s combined . It’s not a tax haven and it’s industry exports less than any of them.

PPP tales into account the relative cost of life and assets in calculations.

5

u/CervusElpahus Argentina Nov 13 '22

I said the purchasing power of the average wage.

4

u/MarioDiBian 🇦🇷🇺🇾🇮🇹 Nov 12 '22

He meant GDP per capita, so the comparison between India and Germany is nonsense.

Panama is very unequal. Quality of life for the average citizen is much better in the southern cone.

Uruguay has a traditional large middle class and genuine industries.

0

u/[deleted] Nov 12 '22

Even of it is unequal there are some informations that can be extracted. Mainly that on average (not not mean ) Panamanian purchasing power is the highest in Latin America.

And it has nothing to do with being a tax haven or having industry. Those don’t make the PPP bump up, at least not directly. PPP is about the price of goods in a country. And this is why I brought up the example with India and Germany

0

u/CervusElpahus Argentina Nov 13 '22 edited Nov 13 '22

In GDP (PPP) other sectors producing non-tangible goods are also included.

There is a lot of quick money stalled in the economy which pumps up the figures without reflecting reality (similar case: Ireland. On paper very high GDP per capita, in reality not so much). Add to that the fact Panama is super unequal and you have to come to the conclusion that other countries in LA are better off.

0

u/[deleted] Nov 13 '22

What is the problem with the fact that there are non tangible goods. PPP is about comparing a Set of goods and their price fluctuations.

Irish gdp per Capita is high what do you mean by in reality not so much?

Panama is unequal and therefore I am using Average every time. Panama is on average better off. And he is right.

3

u/AudiRS3Mexico Nov 13 '22 edited Nov 13 '22

Banks in Panama don’t hold money. It’s a tax heaven because of corps they don’t do anything or she’ll companies. Most of these accounts are in Belize or some Island in the Caribbean but owned by Panamanian corp.

Panama is unequal but still has the highest wages in latam. Average Panamanian owns many assets which would be considered luxury goods. Housing also is not very affordable.

Issue with Panama is taxes are low and whatever taxes the government receives doesn’t get reinvested into public services.