From what I've seen, what you noted is true in the US, esp with the most popular books. Just for interest, I'll list a few of the less popular genres that I read, where I've seen the ebooks typically cost less. I don't have a good explanation for why these break the common pattern, though.

* Non-fiction works in genres or subjects that have less mass popularity or a smaller, niche audience. Two of this type are philosophy and theology. Nearly always for the books I read of this type, the ebook version is cheaper. Recent example: the excellent Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy: Kindle $28.99, new paper $42.97. Even some books in this category that would have a larger audience, for example the nonfiction works of C.S. Lewis on subjects like literary criticism, philosophy, or even some of his popular works on Christian theology, the ebook prices in the Signature Classics editions are often lower than the cheapest paperback editions, though not by much.
* Classic fiction works. Shakespeare, Dickens, et al, basically famous literary authors whose work is now in the public domain. To be clear, I'm not just talking about cheap or free editions like at Gutenberg, or even those 0.99 cent Kindle editions. I'm talking about better quality editions, with annotations, improved page layout, maybe even scholarly apparatus or introductory essays. Take Shakespeare's Complete Works, ed. Jonathan Bate, by the Royal Shakespeare Academy. Kindle $19.99, hardcover $50, no paperback version. That is a great cost savings. And more often than not, I see the ebook form of other quality literary works to have more reasonable pricing than the paper form. Just this morning, I saw a complete, modern nicely laid out version of T.S. Eliot's complete works, with notes, that's about $7 less for the ebook version than the most widely used hardcover edition (again, no paperback version of that edition currently available).
* Recipe books--at least the type we buy--always seem cheaper as ebooks.
* Technical books in computer science or programming. For these, at least the ones I read, the ebook form is cheaper nearly 100% of the time.

Overall, I don't have a lot of complaints about ebook pricing. Sure, getting a good deal is nice. But if it took some work for somebody to ensure that all those complex character dialogues, notes, etc, are properly linked and laid out in the ebook version of Shakespeare, I'm delighted to get all that goodness and only have to pay them $20 for it. Versus $50 for a hardcover edition that I cannot search, cannot annotate, cannot easily copy/paste passages into other apps, etc.