Of course the cost of living is low.... because most of people living in Vientiane don't have a lot of money. If prices were higher, how could they do? They would just have to leave the city and Vientiane would become a small village.

But on the other side, this study doesn't consider cost for healthcare and education...very important things

Anyway we should not care about figures... just about quality of life and for this, Vientiane seems to be not bad at all for me.

Moreover, i enjoy this situation: this give me hope to live one day in this city to get a much better quality of life (bringing my western money... Euros)

With my money that represent just half the price of a small house in the subburbs of Paris, i could get a very comfortable life in Vientiane... and it would benefit too Laos and lao people too, because if i spend and invest my money in Laos, it will make more money and job opportunities for lao people. Everyone could be happy. But this can be intresting for me only if cost of living in Vientiane remain low.... or i would propably stay in France all my life.