At least in the case of Baltics cost of living is not a fifth of what it is in the US. In fact it could even be considered similar. For some reason countries like Spain and Germany have CHEAPER cost of living for day to day things (except rent).
Quality of life is just worse in those regions. It's not very much, but still noticeable. One of the reasons why this is the case is just income being lower for equivalent work. Richer countries just tend to have the better companies with more reach.
This is an interesting thread about people being surprised about it: https://www.reddit.com/r/Eesti/comments/2xqd01/can_someone_e...
Quality of life is just worse in those regions. It's not very much, but still noticeable. One of the reasons why this is the case is just income being lower for equivalent work. Richer countries just tend to have the better companies with more reach.