I'll bite on the " higher standard of living " Metro :
I earn 1/2 what I earnt in HK and yet, without going into specifics, mine and my families standard of living and not least of all health, is far better than it was in HK. Oh, and we are less than 5 hrs from Thailand and Bali if we want to go and spend our holidays with bogans.
Each to their own, some people actually like living in crowded smoggy expensive cities, no argument there, but don't talk about standard of living.