These Are the Top 10 Most Expensive Cities in the World
According to this year's Worldwide Cost of Living Survey, Europe and Asia-Pacific cities topped the ranks of the most expensive places to live in the world. For the fifth consecutive year, Singapore holds the title as the most expensive city— followed by Paris, Zurich and Hong Kong.
The annual report from Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) compares the prices of more than 150 products and services— like the cost of food, drinks, clothing, household supplies and personal care items, home rents, transport, utility bills, domestic help and recreational costs— across 133 cities worldwide. The survey is used to help human resources and finance managers build compensation packages for expatriates and travelers and calculate cost-of-living.
The report noted that Asian cities tend to be the most expensive location for general grocery shopping, while European cities tend to be priciest in the household, personal care, recreation and entertainment categories. Singapore holds the top spot because it's considerably pricey to buy clothes and own a car in the city-state. However, it still offers a relative value in personal care, household goods and domestic help compared to its regional peers.
Notably, no US cities were featured in the top 10, largely because of the weakening dollar. According to EIU, currency fluctuations continue to be a major cause for changes in the rankings. In fact, there was a fall in cost-of-living for all 16 of the American cities surveyed (except Boston) with New York and Los Angeles dropping from ninth and 11th in 2017 ranking to numbers 13th and 14th this year, respectively.
10 most expensive cities in the world:
1. Singapore
2. Paris, France
3. Zürich, Switzerland
4. Hong Kong
5. Oslo, Norway
6. Geneva, Switzerland
7. Seoul, South Korea
8. Copenhagen, Denmark
9. Tel Aviv, Israel
10. Sydney, Australia
Although Asia has some of the world’s most expensive places to live, it is also home to some of the world's most affordable destinations — such as Bangalore, Chennai, and New Delhi— which all provided good values, the report noted. Those cities were joined by Caracas, Damascus, Almaty, Lagos, Algiers, Karachi and Bucharest on the cheaper end of the spectrum.
