I know that in recent years, Ireland has experienced an unheard of economic boom. Due partly to extremely low corporate tax rates and partly to the billions of dollars the EU has pumped into it since joining, Eire has become home to over 30, 000 millionaires and jumped into the bracket of one of the richest countries in the world. So I thought I’d do a little comparison, since I’m so set on living there. My findings frighten me a great deal.

According to the International Salary Calculator, if I made $100, 000 a year (which, believe you me, I wish I did) then to maintain my standard of living in Dublin, I would have to make the equivalent of $134,426. That is a huge difference. Dublin is the 18th most expensive city in the world to live in (down from 13th in recent years). Toronto is 47th. The only other Irish cities it lists are Cork, where I would need to make $121,410, and Limerick, where I would need $105,836. Ireland has always been expensive, but it’s getting out of hand. On the other hand, wages are fairly high and minimum salary is one of the highest in the EU, second only to Luxembourg. Most salaried employees make much more than that though, with only 3% of the full time employed population earning the actual minimum wage, which incidentally, is almost double that of the US.

Mind you, even with it’s cheaper price tag, Canada outranks Ireland in living conditions. Canada was rated 5th by the UN in 2005 for a high standard of living, while Ireland came in 8th. But Ireland’s a better place to start a business. Here’s a really interesting study on the economic growth of Ireland.

I suppose it might be worth paying the price to reside in the world’s best country to live in. Not that Canada’s horrible or anything, at 14th and don’t get me wrong, I love Canada and I am proud to be a Canadian citizen, but I really just don’t feel at home here anymore. And I’m not sure I ever really did.