As a Brit living here in Morocco,
I thought it would be interesting to see exactly how much it costs to live in this country for a year
and compare that to exactly the same lifestyle of a year in the United Kingdom
So I created a very detailed spreadsheet that looks at everything from mars bars to gym membership
so let's see exactly how much it costs for a single person to live here in Morocco
and compare that with the same lifestyle in the United Kingdom
Not surprisingly, Morocco is less expensive than the United Kingdom
but there are three items on my list that are cheaper in the UK than here in Morocco
Can you guess what they are?
One of those more expensive things is banking.
It's actually free in the United Kingdom to have an ordinary bank account
but here in morocco you can expect to pay about 30 dirhams per month
depending on the type of count that you have
One thing that is a lot cheaper here in Morocco is coffee
For a coffee like this, you can expect to pay about seven dirhams in an independent coffee
For the same coffee in the United Kingdom you'd pay about £1.90
To keep fit in a gym for a year will cost you about £200 for the cheapest deal in the United Kingdom
In Morocco, you'll pay about 1,250 dirham
A single bus journey in Rabat costs five dirhams regardless of how far you travel
Some of these bus journeys last more than 30 kilometers
In Newcastle in the UK, a single bus journey is about £2.60
but that cost will increase the further you travel
In Rabat, a single journey on the tram costs six dirhams
On the metro system in Newcastle, you pay a minimum of £2 for a single journey ticket
As with the buses, on the metro the further you travel, the higher the cost
There is a monthly public transport card in Newcastle that will reduce the cost
but even with that card it is still much more expensive to use public transport in the UK than in Morocco
For car owners, insurance in the UK is about £135 annually
but that amount will vary a lot
depending on many factors, such as the age of the driver and the car's engine size
In Morocco, the yearly insurance cost can be about 4,000 dirhams
Road tax in the UK is £150 a year
compared to the 700 in Morocco
So before you even start your engine in the United Kingdom,
you need to pay about £300 a year to drive your car
Here in Morocco, it's about 4,700
but the biggest difference comes in the cost of petrol
In the United Kingdom, a liter of petrol will cost £1.20
Here in Morocco, it's less than 10 dirham
or just 78 pence
In the United Kingdom, an average monthly food bill for a single person is about £100
Here in Morocco, you can eat very well for a thousand dirhams a month
A Mars Bar costs 60 pence in the United Kingdom
Here in Morocco, it's six dirhams
Why did I choose Mars Bars?
I hate Mars Bars!
Does anybody want a Mars Bar?
It's Covid -
It's Covid-free!
Here in Rabat,
a one bedroom flat will cost anything from around 3,000 to 4,000 dirhams a month to rent
In the United Kingdom, a similar flat would cost about £500
However, an apartment like I have with a view like this
would cost a lot more in the United Kingdom
You really start to notice the difference when it comes to other costs
Water, gas and electric bills are astronomically high in the UK
Amounting to an annual bill of over £500 for each one
A total cost of £1,500 or 18,000 dirham
In Morocco, the annual cost for water and electric is about 3,600 dirham
or just £290 per year for both
The difference is even greater when it comes to gas
In the UK, gas comes into your home through pipes
You pay about £40 per month
In Morocco, you buy gas in bottles
They cost just under 45 dirham
How long each bottle lasts, depends on the size of the family
but for a single person, a bottle can last about four months
making an annual cost for gas at 130 dirham
or just £10.80 for a year of gas.
Added all together, your utility bills in Morocco will amount to an annual cost of about 3,735 dirham
or £300 for gas, water and electricity for a year
The UK has something called council tax
which is the money people pay to the local government
to have their roads cleaned and their street lamps working
as well as other local services
that tax is about £170 per month
or £2,000 a year
but that figure can vary a lot depending on the part of the country
It seems Morocco doesn't have a comparable system
There is an annual road cleaning bill of exactly 515 dirham per year
Broadband is about £30 in the UK
In Morocco, you pay 250 dirham each month
Netflix is almost the same price in both countries
£8 in the UK and 80 dirham in Morocco
A mobile phone package will set you back about £50 in the UK
and 50 dirham in Morocco
In the United Kingdom, you have to pay for a TV license to get programmes from the BBC
that costs just over £13 a month or £156 a year
In Morocco, 20 dirhams is added to your electricity bill each month to pay for state TV channels
Health insurance is essential in Morocco
The cost can vary a lot, but 2,400 dirhams a year will get you basic protection
The UK has the wonderful National Health Service or NHS
It's free at the point of use for everyone and offers great medical care
so you don't need to pay for medical insurance in the UK
Alcohol is the second of the things that are more expensive in Morocco than in the UK
That's because alcohol is taxed highly over here
A bottle of local beer in the UK is about £1.40
A bottle of the local brew in Morocco is slightly more expensive at 20 dirham
The other item that is more expensive in Morocco than in the UK is a Big Mac meal
In "Maccas" in the UK, you will pay only £3.19
to put weight on in "MacDo", the same calorie inducing grub is 50 dirham
A box of 20 cigarettes in the UK is £10.80
or a massive 130 dirham
You have to pay just 35 dirham for the same box of cigarettes in Morocco
A saving of 73%
A basic haircut for a man in the UK will cost around £7
For the same cut in Morocco, you can expect to pay about 20 dirham
You will pay about £10 to watch a film in a cinema in the UK
In Morocco, the same cinema seat will cost 50 dirham
Adding all of this together, a single person in the United Kingdom
will need to take home a minimum of £13,000 or 156,000 dirhams a year
To have the same lifestyle in Morocco,
a single person will need to take home about 123,000 dirham or £10,000
with a cost of living difference of £3,000 or 36,000 dirham
and in Rabat, you get the added pleasure of beautiful sunsets