Looking at things like a countries average income in comparison to another isn't really useful either when considering this sort of thing, it's more important to consider the cost of living and individual's disposable income. A quick comparison between Moscow and Berlin tells us that:
"You would need around 4,571.02$ (3,676.02€) in Moscow to maintain the same standard of life that you can have with 2,900.00€ in Berlin (assuming you rent in both cities). This calculation uses our Consumer Prices Including Rent Index. Local Purchasing Power in Moscow is 50.35% lower than in Berlin" (Source: numbeo.com)
How current is this information?
Since the rent in Berlin rises at about 15% every year for quite some years now, I highly doubt that those numbers are still accurate, they may well have been 10 years ago.
East Germany and especcially Berlin are an example for quite the opposite of your reasoning, because the living costs are rising further and further while the wages are kept low (about 30% lower than in West Germany).
Besides if you only compare capitols it's hardly represantitive for the whole country but rather another arbitrary method of comparison.
The figures are updated constantly, they are up to date. Moscow and Berlin were not chosen arbitrarily either because what I didn't mention is that their respective CPI (cost of living index) is almost identical with Berlin at 76 and Moscow at 75 and yet you need over €1000 extra to maintain the same standard of living. It's an excellent example of my reasoning, which was:
"Looking at things like a countries average income in comparison to another isn't really useful either when considering this sort of thing, it's more important to consider the cost of living and individual's disposable income."
It's a perfect example of the complexity and nuance and the fact that you cannot point to one figure or index to make an apt comparison.
I wonder why beer and wine prizes are constantly updated on this site and are part of the living costs as it seems. What else? Coffee and cigarettes?
Comparing "costs of the same living standard" between cities is a bit senseless if stuff like this is included, at least when you talk about basic living costs.
They are culculating those numbers with luxury like beer/wine, restaurants, taxis, tennis court rent, fitness club, cinema etc... all stuff that has nothing to do with basic living costs and is completely unimportant for the lower and middle class.
Basic living costs are rent, water, rice/bread/noodles/etc., public transport, heat, energy and medication imho and not luxury.
Where I live, luxury is cheap but basic living costs are high, especcially rent, public transport and medication compared to the wages.
If this site takes luxury into account, the numbers aren't worth much.
I didn't find Kiew and Bukarest there, but the local purchasing power of Moscow as calculated on this site is higher than the one of Budapest and Athens for example and they have to pay WAY more on GoG, which underlines the fact, that all this has absolutely nothing to do with the regional pricing system.
