Most Expensive Cities In The World To Live In

[Torneyboy]

A survey released by Mercer Human Research Consulting...which covers 144 cities measures the comparative cost of more than 200 items in each city.

Including housing,food,clothing and entertainment.

 

This year Last year

1 Tokyo 1

2 London 7

3 Moscow 2

4 Osaka 3

5 Hong Kong 4

6 Geneva 6

7 Seoul 8

8 Copenhagen 15

9 Zurich 9

10 St Petersburg 12

11 Beijing 5

12 New York 10

13 Milan 17

14 Dublin 21

15 Oslo 13

16 Shanghai 11

17 Paris 23

18 Istanbul 42

19 Vienna 34

20 Sydney 67

 

 

Some big movers on the list ....Istanbul,Sydney,Vienna.

[Guest]

Does it mention average wage in each city? Otherwise it becomes irrelevant.

 

E.g. A beer in Tokyo is twice the price as Sydney, but average wage in Tokyo is twice that of Sydney. Result: same same.

[samak]

is this survey for expats or for locals? as expats might buy different stuff and living in quite different accommodations.

not surprised about ranking of japanese cities. can not understand why Shanghai moved from 11. to 16. place as things (in particular also accommodation) are getting very expensive there. where is bloody expensive Singapore?

[Torneyboy]

Roppongi said:

Does it mention average wage in each city? Otherwise it becomes irrelevant.

 

E.g. A beer in Tokyo is twice the price as Sydney, but average wage in Tokyo is twice that of Sydney. Result: same same.

 

 

Hi

 

No mention of wages...just cost of food,a cup of cofee etc.

 

 

""The survey ranked cost of living for foreign workers and the findings are primarily used by multinational companies to determine pay for expatriate employees"

 

 

www.dailytelegraph.com.au

[ThaiHome]

World's most expensive cities :

"Mercer's researchers priced a basket of more than 200 goods and services in each city that reflects expatriate spending habits.

The goods and services include the monthly rent for a two-bedroom luxury apartment unfurnished, the cost of a hamburger, the price of transportation and entertainment"

 

Local wage rate is immaterial to the audience of this survey. For multi-national expats, the wage rate stays the same regardless of location. You get allowances (or not) for cost of living based on surveys such as this.

TH

[ThaiHome]

samak said:

can not understand why Shanghai moved from 11. to 16. place as things (in particular also accommodation) are getting very expensive there. where is bloody expensive Singapore?

 

Also can't understand why Shanghai would move down.

I can understand Singapore though, housing allowance is almost half of the HK allowance (at least for my company).

TH

[Guest]

Good point.

[Fidel]

I see Bangkok ranked 119th .

 

Ottawa, Canada: 124th??? ::

[Torneyboy]

Hi

 

Makes you think ...what basket of goodies they picked up in BKK to test the survey

 

Maybe the rents pulled the figures down

[gobbledonk]

The problem with these sorts of rankings is that there are so many variables involved in determining what makes a city 'expensive' to live in. I agree that a roof over one's head and 3 squares a day is a solid basis, but its amazing how far some of us can spin a dollar/pound/peso if we are prepared to make certain sacrifices.

 

I do know that I would have to sacrifice a great deal of my current quality of life to move to Sydney, and that's assuming a *minimum* 50% increase in my current salary. Home ownsership would be an impossible dream, and I doubt that I'd have any more disposable income than I currently enjoy after subtracting rent from my take-home pay.