I have been living here in Belgrade for more than 9 years though I am originally from Bangladesh , a south Asian Country . Belgrade is the largest and most expensive city in Serbia . The living cost here in Belgrade is slowly increasing over the last few years like everywhere else in the world. In this post I will try to discuss approximate living cost in Belgrade and try to draw a comparison between here and back home.I found different people have different observation regarding the living cost in Belgrade. As I am a part of Belgrade foreign visitor community, I met people from all over the world who is currently living in Belgrade. People who mainly came from relatively richer countries like UK, USA, Norway, Germany, Sweden etc have found living cost in Belgrade is really cheap. But local people or people who is coming from developing countries find it bit more expensive. So living cost is always relative.
From my perspective living cost here in Belgrade is expensive. According to the local people average salary here is around 600 USD. Renting a apartment in Belgrade is really expensive considering the average salary. If you want to rent a small apartment between 25-30 square meter , you will have to spend between 250-300 USD per month. On other other hand food and transport cost is relatively cheap in my opinion. Here I will share the price of some groceries based on my recent visit in local super market.
The price of fresh fruits in Belgrade has always been reasonable. Because of Covid-19 pandemic , the price is bit higher by 10-20 Cent per kilo. Apples and oranges are between 1-1.5 USD(prices show in below pictures are in RSD , 1USD=100 RSD approximatly) per kilo depending on the quality while Bananas are round 1.5 USD per kg. Below are some pictures that has been taken recently from my last visit to Maxi super market.
I am a big fan of fresh vegetables. Unfortunately I haven't seen a lot of vegetables in the supermarket here in Belgrade. Prices of vegetables are significantly higher considering other day to day items which isn't a good news for vegan and vegetables lover. Tomatoes are between 1.5-3.0 USD per kilo depending on quality and size. Back home in Bangladesh I could buy tomatoes between 20-50 cent per kilo depending on the season. Same goes with other vegetables like egg plant, chili peppers, cauliflower, cabbage, cucumber etc all are 4-6 times higher in price comparing with Bangladesh. I am sure people coming from other European countries may find them bit cheaper.
Dairy milk and yogurt are approximately 1 USD per liter which is reasonable.
For south asian people, rice is one the most important grocery items as we have to eat rice everyday. Rice here is between 1.5 -4.0 USD per kg. On the other hand, flours are relatively cheaper costing between 40-60 cent per kg.
Meat is another important grocery item. Belgrade maybe a place for those who love eating now and then. It's available and price is more than fair. Beef is between 5-10 USD per kg and pork is between 3-6 USD /kg while chicken is 2-3 USD/kg.
Serbia isn't a place for people who loves eating fresh fish. In the super market, I found only 3-4 different kind of fish available. Fishes are also very expensive here. Costs of fish are between 8-20 USD per kg
Serbia maybe a good place for those who love alcohol. They have plenty of different kind of Alcohol and prices are really reasonable. Beer cans are between 60-80 cent, Somersby around 1USD, vodka between 6-20 USD per liter , wine 6-25 per liter. Rakija is a local drink with 40-60% alcohol and equally popular among both Serbs and expats community. 1L rakija can be bought between 4-10 USD.
As mentioned earlier prices of these items can vary based on location and times. But this post should give an approximate cost of life in Belgrade, Serbia.
Finally, I would like to thank you all for reading my blog. Have a wonderful day and stay active in this beautiful platform as much as possible :)
Source
All the photos and text above are my original work. I encourage everyone to use their own words and stay away from copying and pasting. This is how we can make HIVE amazing.
