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BEIJING, CHINA - 2017/04/23: Since June 1st 2017, the full-time employees of Starbucks in Chinese market, who have worked for two years and have parents younger than 75 years old, will enjoy a new  parental care plan , which is an critical illness insurance wholly provided by the company. (Photo by Zhang Peng/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Since June 1st 2017, the full-time employees of Starbucks in Chinese market, who have worked for two years and have parents younger than 75 years old, will enjoy a new "parental care plan", which is an critical illness insurance wholly provided by the company.
Zhang Peng—© 2017 Zhang Peng

A tall latte from Starbucks in Russia costs the equivalent of over $12.

The popular drink seen as a daily necessity by many people in the U.S. — where it costs a little more than $2 — is considered an extravagance in other parts of the world, where the relative cost of the espresso drink ranges from $3 to the double digits, depending on where you are.

ValuePenguin, a research firm that aims to help customers understand the value of what they buy, took the costs for lattes in 39 countries, other than the U.S., and adjusted them to reflect the prices of other goods and services in those countries compared with the U.S. Its resulting Latte Index showed that Starbucks is, relatively speaking, more expensive in pretty much every other country in the world.

Russia had the most relatively expensive latte, at $12.32. Costs in Asian countries were the next highest—Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, India, Malaysia, China, Saudi Arabia, the Philippines, United Arab Emirates, and Egypt—where the price for lattes ranges from $6 to $8. Poland, Bulgaria, and Sweden are not as expensive, but it will still cost Starbucks drinkers upwards of $5 for a tall.

In countries like Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and New Zealand, a tall latte is just a little more expensive than the price of one in the U.S., averaging at about $3.