The index compares the cost of a weekly basket of six vice goods including cigarettes, alcohol, marijuana, amphetamines, cocaine and opioids in more than 100 countries. Picture / Getty Images
The index compares the cost of a weekly basket of six vice goods including cigarettes, alcohol, marijuana, amphetamines, cocaine and opioids in more than 100 countries. Picture / Getty Images
New Zealand is the second most expensive country in the world to buy a basket of vice goods, according to the annual Bloomberg Global Vice Index.
The index compares the costs of a weekly basket of six so-called vice goods including cigarettes, alcohol, marijuana, amphetamines, cocaine and opioids across morethan 100 countries.
New Zealand was one of only three countries where the gross weekly cost exceeded US$1,000 ($1,369), according to Bloomberg.
At US$1,366.40, Japan came in as the most expensive, followed by New Zealand at US$1,241.60 and Australia in third at US$1,028.70.
By comparison, the same basket cost less than $100 in 21 mostly tropical countries, including the Dominican Republic, Ghana, Congo, Colombia, South Africa, Guatemala, Kenya and Myanmar.
The Congo was the cheapest of these places with a weekly basket of vice goods costing just US$18.30.
New Zealand saw the biggest year-on-year increase with Kiwis having to fork out US$261.10 more for a basket of vice goods last year compared to 2016.
Vice prices tumbled the most in Iran, Norway and South Korea, all of which saw their weekly tab for a basket of goods fall by more than US$200 from the previous year.
Iran had the biggest drop in price, falling US$642.20 for a total cost of a basket of vice coming to US$62.40.
Data was sourced from the UN, World Health Organization, World Bank and International Monetary Fund.
Bloomberg's vice basket tracks average retail prices for:
• Pack of cigarettes, popular and premium • Bottle of alcoholic beverages, including beer, wine and spirits • Gram of amphetamine-type stimulants, including methamphetamine and/or ecstasy • Gram of cannabis, including marijuana hashish resin and/or cannabis oil • Gram of cocaine, regardless of salts, paste or base forms • Gram of opioids, including heroin and/or opium.
