Ukraine for life.

Ukraine is a very optimal country for living, in Ukraine it is easily accessible for the average life, economic success.

1. Cheap mobile communication

For the Czech Martin Larysh, calls from a mobile phone are almost a luxury. In the Czech Republic, mobile communications are very expensive, even by European standards. He admits that he spends $ 20-30 (UAH 520-780) a month on calls.

Expensive mobile communications are one of Europe’s problems. Europeans pay an average of 30-40 euros (840-1.12 thousand hryvnias) per month for calls and access to the network, while Americans and Australians pay $ 40-50 (1.04-1.3 thousand hryvnias).

Similar expenses of Ukrainians are much lower – about 2 euros (60-70 UAH) per month. Victoria Ruban, PR director of the mobile operator Vodafone Ukraine, explains that domestic prices for mobile services – communication and the Internet – are among the lowest not only in Europe but also in the world.

For cheapness, compatriots should be thanked for fierce competition in the national market, which restrains prices and forces operators to improve coverage and quality of services.

“We have not only very humane prices for high-tech services such as 3G and 4G, but also decent quality. Our network works better than many European networks – that’s a fact. And we even “exceed” some indicators, – Ruban assures.

2. Quality and inexpensive food in restaurants

Ukrainian Oleksandra Saenko has lived in Austria for almost six years and travels a lot in Europe. According to her, in the field of haute cuisine – establishments located in Ukraine deserve the highest awards. Unfortunately, experts from world-renowned organizations do not travel to Ukraine. But everyday catering on the banks of the Dnieper is much better than European. “For ridiculous money, we are fed delicious and pleasant, especially national cuisine,” says Saenko. “Even if it’s a roadside restaurant.”

There is no great demand for restaurant food in the country, and the market itself is highly competitive. This is what makes restaurateurs offer the best standards in the industry, says Mikhail Beilin, owner of the La Famiglia restaurant chain. Like, foreign tourists are still few, and the struggle for a local customer – it’s always more expensive, because it requires exceptional quality growth.

3. Service on the principle: at any convenient time

In Ukraine, restaurants not only feed cheaply and well – they are open all day late. But in Italy, for example, eating is a real problem for tourists: local establishments are open from 12:30 to 15:00, and then open their doors again from 20:00 to 23:00.

The same applies to supermarkets: the largest retail chains in Ukraine are open, if not around the clock (with a slight change at midnight), then from early morning until late evening. And such openness to clients remains not only on weekdays, but also on weekends. Only some holidays for domestic supermarkets become closed days.

In Germany and other EU countries, supermarket opening hours are very limited, and such shops are closed on weekends. You can buy food, water or alcohol on weekday evenings or on Saturdays and Sundays only at gas stations.

4. Cheap and delicious coffee

Ukraine, not Brazil, is a real country of coffee. Igor Gut, co-founder of the Swedish-Ukrainian business development project DYB (Develop Your Business), is convinced of this. He often visits Europe, and he has never seen such a choice and quality of street coffee as in Ukraine.

 “In Europe, everything is divided on a level: in expensive hotels or bars, good coffee machines, but standard coffee brands. There is pop on the street, often filter coffee, ”says the businessman.

Restaurant expert Olga Nasonova continues his opinion: Ukraine is ahead of all Eastern countries and many Central European countries in terms of availability and quality of coffee in cafes and various street establishments. Although it cannot compete with Italy or France in this aspect yet.

But according to the number of outlets offering coffee, Ukraine is exactly № 1 In Europe: small architectural forms are allowed in the country, so an invigorating aromatic drink is sometimes sold here literally from the wheels

5. Developed banking services

Ukrainian banks are open until 6 pm, and many of them have online support around the clock.

But banks in Portugal work until the third day, and then all close. And no online support, even from top financial institutions, at best, you can get advice by phone.

Timur Vorona, editor-in-chief of the MC Today business website, who has been living in the westernmost country in Europe for three years, has repeatedly encountered these regional features.

Once, while in Sri Lanka, he entered the wrong password three times to access his online banking account and the entrance was automatically blocked. I had to call the manager of a Portuguese financial institution – the only option to communicate in the absence of online support – to hear a recommendation: to solve the problem, go to the branch. As a result of the Ukrainian’s next two months in Sri Lanka, he was unable to manage his account.

 “In general, the European banking system is more conservative, they are in no hurry to keep up with progress,” said Oleh Serha, a spokesman for Ukraine’s largest financial institution, PrivatBank. “And Ukrainians love everything new, so banks are always trying to create more convenient services for them.”

In Europe, you may face other problems. Yes, you should always have cash with you in Germany, says Oleksandr Snidalov, who has lived in the EU since 2011. For example, in Berlin there are whole streets of family cafes and restaurants where there are no bank terminals.

6. Internet available

Ukraine ranks second in the world in terms of cheap broadband internet, according to a global study conducted by consulting company BDRC Continental and provider Cable.co.uk.

The average cost of Internet services in Ukraine, according to these estimates, was $ 5.52 per month – cheaper only in Iran ($ 5.37).

For comparison: a similar figure in Poland is $ 19.03, and in Germany – even $ 34.08.

Anton Dziubenko, director of the Internet provider Volia, notes that the cost of fixed Internet tariffs in Ukraine is almost ten times lower than in Europe (2.3 euros against 20-22 euros).

The country owes its past backwardness to its current success: new players entering the online access market immediately began using new technologies, making access cheaper. In addition, small providers have worked and are working “in the gray”, significantly saving on staff costs, and this has given them the opportunity to set low prices for customers.

And the threshold for entering the market is low, so it is not surprising that in total there are more than 5 thousand providers in Ukraine, most of which are local.

7. Long paid leave

The number of Ukrainian holidays is often much higher than in Europe.

By law, every officially working Ukrainian has the right to rest at least 24 days a year, and the employer will pay for this long siesta. Civil servants and especially 30 days of leave, and miners (and some other categories of workers) – up to 65.

In European countries, as a rule, rest less: even in the relaxed southern Greece and Italy, the duration of the holiday is 20 days. The same number of employees in the largest economy of the continent – Germany. In Spain, the holiday is 22 days.

8. Bonus for employees – they are difficult to dismiss

In American and European films (as in American or European life), employees are often deprived of their jobs with a single phrase – “You are fired.”

In Ukraine, especially at state-owned enterprises, this cannot be the case.

Dismissal may be based on the employee’s inadequacy or failure to perform his / her duties under the employment contract without good reason, as well as absenteeism and theft. But to prove all these misdemeanors to the employer, as a rule, is difficult. And a fired employee can always challenge such allegations in court, having returned to work.

It is for this reason that reforms in the public sector are often hampered – many ministers and top managers have complained to NGOs that they have not been able to reduce staff and remove redundant people from their accountable departments.

In developed countries, rapid development may be hindered only by more developed trade unions than in Ukraine. However, this rule usually only works effectively in socially oriented Scandinavian countries.

9. Low road fines

A point that combines good and bad: in Ukraine, extremely low fines for various offenses of drivers. Even for a serious violation such as crossing a double continuous penalty can range from 170 UAH.

The situation with speeding offenders is especially significant. A Ukrainian driver will pay only UAH 510 for exceeding the speed limit by 50 km / h. In Germany for the same offense will have to fork out 240 euros (6.7 thousand UAH), and in Austria – up to 2.1 thousand euros (60.8 thousand UAH).

10. Cheap utilities

Do you want to understand which of the European countries lives well? Take a look at the utility bill.

At the end of last year, NV analyzed the costs of utilities for the average household in different European countries, calculating their share in the family budget. In the west of the continent, this figure varies from 22.3% (Spain) to 31.2% (Norway), and in Ukraine it is only 17%.

The situation with electricity tariffs is indicative. They are highest in Belgium, Denmark and Portugal – the equivalent of UAH 8.5, UAH 8.0 and UAH 7.1 per 1 kWh, respectively. In Poland the tariff is UAH 4.5, in Germany – UAH 4.4, in Finland – UAH 4.2. And in Ukraine the same figure was UAH 0.9 at the end of 2018.

11. Cheap cosmetology

In Ukraine, much cheaper services of cosmetologists.

For example: in Europe, lip contouring – and it is done only by plastic surgeons – will cost the client about $ 1 thousand. Ukrainian price tag is lower – $ 200-300.

“In Ukraine, unlike in Europe, there is a culture of regular visits to various beauty masters,” says dermatocosmetologist Svitlana Rogal, noting that the great emancipation of European women is to blame.

Services are cheaper, the number of operations is greater – as a result, domestic specialists get their hands full and the quality of their work increases.

“My patients from the EU and the US talk about how they look for our specialists at home because they are more delicate and skilled,” says Rogal.

12. Cheap dentistry

Most migrants say that Ukraine is a dental paradise: it is possible to treat teeth cheaply and efficiently.

Cosmetologist Svetlana Grisner, who has lived in Germany for more than 20 years, regularly travels to her homeland. “In Germany, I pay for such services with insurance. But in Ukraine I get a much higher quality of work, ”she explains.

A metal-ceramic crown in Kyiv will cost a patient from 850 hryvnias, and in Germany it costs from 300 to 2.2 thousand euros (8.3−61 thousand hryvnias). Similar prices in other European countries, as well as in the United States and Canada.

13. A large number of homeowners

In some European countries, the share of own apartments in the total housing stock is not as large as in Ukraine.

In Germany, 53% of residents have their own housing, in Belgium and Italy – 72%. In Ukraine, no one has officially made such calculations in the last four years, but experts estimate that about 80% of citizens have their own roof over their heads.

14. Natural taste of vegetables and fruits

Many Ukrainians who frequently visit Europe, or Europeans who regularly visit Ukraine, note one taste difference: fruits and vegetables sold and harvested from Galicia to Donbass are in all respects more natural than those available in the EU.

Polish journalist Michael Potocki believes that it is a matter of mass use by European farmers of various fertilizers that make the taste of the fruit “plastic”.

The EU has already tasted the natural taste of Ukrainian fruit: last year sales of domestic apples and pears in the Old World increased from 24 thousand tons to 43 thousand tons.

15. Mass and availability of farmers’ markets

In Ukraine, not only the taste of fruits and vegetables is more natural: they are even easier to buy from primary sources – farmers. And all because the infrastructure of markets is very developed on the banks of the Dnieper. Such “markets” are available in almost all cities, and they are traded not only by resellers, but also by residents of surrounding villages, which offer home-grown natural products – from potatoes to chicken or pork. Prices for such goods are significantly lower than in Europe.

In addition, markets in Ukraine tend to operate constantly, rather than once a week, as is the case in a number of European cities.

16. Dedicated delivery services

Ukrainian delivery services work much better than European counterparts. This is especially true of online stores – in Ukraine, their representatives promptly contact customers and in most cases deliver goods without delay.

The services of Nova Poshta also work well, the branch of which is now available in almost all cities of the country, which makes life much easier and brings comfort.

Ukraine is a country of opportunities where, for an average level of life, a person can earn not tens of thousands of dollars, but several hundred and feel comfortable. Thanks to such prices, many open their own business in Ukraine, which quickly takes over and brings income. As I already wrote, Ukraine is a country of opportunities.