What is the Standard of Living of Colombia?

Answer 1

Economy - overview:Colombia's economy has experienced positive growth over the past three years despite a serious armed conflict. The economy continues to improve in part because of austere government budgets, focused efforts to reduce public debt levels, an export-oriented growth strategy, an improved security situation in the country, and high commodity prices. Ongoing economic problems facing President URIBE range from reforming the pension system to reducing high unemployment, and to achieving congressional passage of a fiscal transfers reform; furthermore, new exploration is needed to offset declining oil production. However, the government's economic policy, democratic security strategy, and the signing of a free trade agreement with the US have engendered a growing sense of confidence in the economy, particularly within the business sector. GDP (purchasing power parity):$374.4 billion (2006 est.) GDP (official exchange rate):$106.8 billion (2006 est.) GDP - real growth rate:6.8% (2006 est.) GDP - per capita (PPP):$8,600 (2006 est.) GDP - composition by sector:agriculture: 12% industry: 35.2% services: 52.7% (2006 est.) Labor force:20.81 million (2006 est.) Labor force - by occupation:agriculture: 22.7% industry: 18.7% services: 58.5% (2000 est.) Unemployment rate:11.1% (2006 est.) Population below poverty line:49.2% (2005) Household income or consumption by percentage share:lowest 10%: 7.9% highest 10%: 34.3% (2004) Distribution of family income - Gini index:53.8 (2005) Inflation rate (consumer prices):4.3% (2006 est.) Investment (gross fixed):22.8% of GDP (2006 est.) Budget:revenues: $50.7 billion expenditures: $52.29 billion; including capital expenditures of $NA (2006 est.) Public debt:45.3% of GDP (2006 est.) Agriculture - products:coffee, cut flowers, bananas, rice, tobacco, corn, sugarcane, cocoa beans, oilseed, vegetables; forest products; shrimp Industries:textiles, food processing, oil, clothing and footwear, beverages, chemicals, cement; gold, coal, emeralds

Answer 2

Like in most places, rents in Colombia can be very inexpensive to expensive depending on the location. You could rent a house for as little as 150 thousand pesos (about 65 dollars) to millions of pesos. Renting a decent home in a poor neighborhood in Medellín could cost 200, 300, or 350 thousand pesos and in a nice neighborhood such as Laureles an apartment could be rented for 450 thousand (about 200 dollars). The most expensive in Medellín would frequently be in El Poblado for 1 or 2 million pesos for an apartment. The problem with renting is that most rental places ask for a cosigner whom would own real estate and would have a job that pays at least 600 thousand. A foreigner would normally would not be able to have a cosigner and might have to pay hotels, which are often expensive. The cheapest hotel room is 10 thousand in a terrible place. Something a little better would cost 25 thousand, and often hotels could cost 60 thousand per day or more, but you could arrange for a weekly or monthly rate or sometimes you could be lucky to find a place that does not use a rental company (called Arrendamientos). Some rental companies in Medellín are Arrendamientos Nutibara, Arrendamientos Santa Fe, Arrendamiento El Roble, La Lonja de Propiedad Raiz, etc. They have websites and besides renting they sell real estate properties that could start at 25 million pesos. Food can be cheap or expensive depending on you habits. If you go to the Minorista / an open grocery market you could get good prices, but if you go to an elegant or high end chain store they the prices could be quite high to the level of being similar or much higher that US prices. Some items are quite expensive because they are imported. Vegetables, fruits, and other items produced in Colombia would be cheap. Colombia produces clothing on its own, but Colombians like imported clothing and are willing to pay much more than they should for them. Clothing here is expensive most of the time.

Bakery products are great here. You would enjoy some things that you would want to eat every day. They also have a variety of drinks / juices that I have not seen in other countries. Their food is delicious and healthy. Most people are thin or not too much overweight. There is a trend for fast food companies from the US to establish business here and you would start to see customers buying Hamburgers from places that you commonly see in the US. Food at restaurants is more expensive than in the US. You could eat a large hot dog with everything for about 4,000 or 4,500. Eating lunch in a restaurant could cost 8,000 and more.

Dancing at nightclubs for groups of 2 or more requires the purchase of at least half of a small bottle, which could cost 25, 35, 40, or even 50 thousand pesos. They usually purchase Aguardiente and other strong drinks, if not then beer.

Utilities can be inexpensive to expensive depending on the location. It is based on the estrato, which is the richness level of the neighborhood. The levels are 1 to 5, being 1 the lowest level. Poor neighborhoods would be in estrato 1 or 2. The lower the estrato the lower the prices in utilities. Some poor communities even have free public phones.

Electronics are slightly higher than in the US because many/most are imported from there or from China. Software is more expensive.

You can live decently in Colombia with about a million pesos per month, which is less than 500. The amount would come down the more people because the expenses such as rent could be shared. People can survive with 500 thousand pesos, but not so well.

Since Colombia is currently an underdeveloped country the salaries are low most of the time. An engineer could earn 1 million pesos or a little less. A lot of of people make 600 thousand or less. Some government jobs pay pretty good, but nowhere near the levels of US jobs. Some people make a lot of money by raising livestock for meat and milk products. Somewhat less from agricultural production. Foreigners could find niches where they could fit in well: teaching English, opening a business, etc. An English teacher could earn 17 to 25 thousand pesos per hour, but in some schools the number of hours per day would be less than 8, maybe 4 or 6 and split on shifts that could start as early as 5 a.m. and continue at lunch at noon with an empty time in between. If the person lands a job at a high end private elementary or high school then he would have more income if he is able to be hired full time. Workers accumulate income on the side as when quitting there would be some money earned.

Medical care is inexpensive. Low income people usually get Sisben and hardly pay anything for medical care. Private medical care is way less expensive here than in the US. The quality and speed of service is great. At a public clinic you could be seen in a few minutes to an hour, not many hours like in some US hospitals.

Colombia is a great place to live for some foreigners from rich countries and who receive a low pension such as from the Social Security. The cost of living on average is less than in the US if the person shops well for what he needs. A great thing is that medical care is a lot less expensive and medicines are not too expensive. If the person becomes a Colombian citizen (after like 5 years) and has low income then could qualify for the Sisben and get medical care almost free.

Answer 3

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