The answer is -- it depends. The key factor is how many continents you want to visit. Here are the rankings for the lowest costs for 3-6 continent trips starting in the country indicated. These are US$ and I have included Canada and the US for comparison purposes. Currency translations were done based on exchange rates as of 20 March 2002.

3 Continent

Sri Lanka 3454
India 3554
Korea 3695
Thailand 3758
Pakistan 3843
Gibraltar 3941
Euro (ex EI) 3972
Canada 4808
USA 6200

4 Continent

Namibia 3728
New Zealand 3979
Sri Lanka 4146
India 4265
Gibraltar 4370
Euro (ex EI) 4414
Canada 5314
USA 6900

5 Continent

Namibia 4209
New Zealand 4569
Sri Lanka 4767
Gibraltar 4898
India 4905
Australia 4939
Euro (ex EI) 4943
Canada 6137
USA 7800

6 Continent

Namibia 4896
New Zealand 5156
Australia 5466
Sri Lanka 5482
Gibraltar 5598
India 5641
Euro (ex EI) 5649
Canada 7086
USA 9000

(Euro = Euro based countries except Ireland.)

Visit FewMiles site for information on every country and the rules for RTW fares. Note that there are a few countries that look really cheap that either no longer are (South Africa) or that do not have any Oneworld flights (Slovokia, Slovenia, Iceland, etc.)

(Edited to add Canada and US info.)

[This message has been edited by ExMo (edited 03-21-2002).]