The Cost of Working From Home Around the World

The outbreak of COVID-19 has led to one of the most significant changes to our working lives that the world has ever seen: millions of people have left the office behind to work from home (WFH).

For some, working from home was already part of their regular working routine. For many, it’s a whole new way of doing things.

So, how has working from home impacted our hip pockets? How much are we spending to use our own broadband, keep our lights and heating on and make those extra cups of coffee throughout the day?

Below we show how some of these costs could stack up throughout a month around the world.

Note that all prices are shown in US dollars.

1. Barbados ($586)

2. Spain ($547)

3. Germany ($530)

The most expensive countries to work from home in

Of the countries that we investigated, Barbados was the most expensive for those working from home. Each month, you'd spend an estimated $586 on broadband, mobile data and basic utilities, such as lighting, heating and charging a laptop.

Barbados was followed by two major European nations: Spain ($547) and Germany ($530).

1. Azerbaijan ($112)

2. Ukraine ($131)

3. Singapore ($153)

The cheapest countries to work from home in

At the other end of the scale, those working from home in countries such as Ukraine and Azerbaijan could be paying as little as $112 per month for the same amenities.

Broadband costs were as little as $6.64 per month in Ukraine, while the ultra-low-cost of $0.05 per kWh of electricity in Azerbaijan means that it’ll cost as little as $0.46 to charge a laptop each day for a month.

Overall worldwide monthly costs of working from home

Key Average monthly cost of a fixed-line broadband package Average price of 1GB mobile data Cost of electricity per kWh Cost to use laptop (8 hours 0.05 kWh) Monthly cost to use a laptop Cost to use a light bulb (8 hours 0.06 kWh) Monthly lighting cost Cost to use a boiler (4 hours 24 kWh) Monthly heating cost Cost to use a kettle (10 mins 3 kWh) Monthly cost to use a kettle Overall monthly cost

						0.05 kWh	0.06 kWh	24 kWh	3 kWh

Overall worldwide monthly costs of working from home

Methodology

Broadband

The average monthly cost of a fixed-line broadband package according to Cable.co.uk’s worldwide comparison.

Mobile Data

The average cost of 1GB of data according to Cable.co.uk’s worldwide mobile data pricing.

Utility costs

We estimated energy costs by multiplying the estimated kilowatts per hour (kWh) of each activity by the average cost per kWh of electricity in each country, (sourced from World Bank) to establish the estimated cost for an hour’s use. Then we use this figure to calculate the cost across a working day (eight hours) and month (20 working days).

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