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Worldwide cost of living survey 2012. Click for full-size graphic
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Which is the world's most expensive
city? Cost of living survey 2012
Tokyo is the world's most expensive city for expatriates according
to the latest ranking by Mercer. See which other cities make the list
Get the data
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6/26/14, 11:20 PM Which is the world's most expensive city? Cost of living survey 2012 | News | theguardian.com
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Tokyo is the world's most expensive city for expatriates according to the latest research
by Mercer, knocking Luanda in Angola off the top spot.
Luanda in Angola, Osaka in Japan, Moscow and Geneva are all within the top five most
expensive cities in the latest Cost of Living Survey. Singapore, Zurich, N'Djamena in
Chad and Hong Kong also feature highly on the list.
Karachi in Pakistan is ranked as the world's least expensive city and is less than one-
third as expensive as Tokyo. "Currency fluctuations, inflation and volatile
accommodation prices" have been stated by Mercer (a global provider of consulting,
outsourcing and investment services) as factors of change in rankings after recent
economic and political events.
London at 25th, is the UK's most expensive city although it has fallen seven places from
last year. Birmingham (133) has overtaken Aberdeen (144) and Glasgow (161). Belfast
(165) remains the UK's least expensive city in the rankings.
Covering 214 cities across five continent, the survey measures the comparative cost of
over 200 items in each location, including housing, transport, food, clothing, household
goods and entertainment. New York is used as the base city for the index and all cities
are compared against New York. Currency movements are measured against the US
dollar. The cost of housing often the biggest expense for expats - plays an important
part in determining where cities are ranked.
Nathalie Constantin-Mtral, Principal at Mercer commented on the findings:
In North America, most cities have gone up in the ranking, as the US dollar
has strengthened against a large proportion of the world's other currencies.
In Asia, more than six in ten cities moved up in the rankings, including all
surveyed cities in Australia, China, Japan and New Zealand. Cities in
Australia and New Zealand witnessed some of the biggest jumps, as their
currencies strengthened significantly against the US dollar.
Here are some key findings from the survey:
At 4th place Moscow is the most expensive city in Europe for expats,
Geneva and Zurich follow in 5th and 6th place respectively
Many European cities have dropped in the rankings due to a weakening
6/26/14, 11:20 PM Which is the world's most expensive city? Cost of living survey 2012 | News | theguardian.com
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local currency - Oslo (18) dropped three places, Paris (37) is down 10 places
and Brussels has fallen nine places.
Tel Aviv, at 31st position remains the most expensive city in the Middle
East, despite a fall of seven places since 2011
So Paulo (12) and Rio de Janeiro (13) remain the most expensive for
expats across both North and South America. Caracas (29) follows closely
behind with a considerable advance since last year of 22 places
There's some great country comparisons below. We have the list of top 50 most
expensive cities for expats and the ten least expensive. The downloadable spreadsheet
also features the data behind the graphic and details the same categories for other cities
on the list.
What can you do with the data?
Data summary
Top 50 most expensive cities for expats, 2012 ()
Click heading to sort table. Download this data
2012 2011 City Country
1 2 Tokyo Japan
2 1 Luanda Angola
3 6 Osaka Japan
4 4 Moscow Russia
5 5 Geneva Switzerland
6 7 Zurich Switzerland
6 8 Singapore Singapore
8 3 NDjamena Chad
9 9 Hong Kong Hong Kong
10 11 Nagoya Japan
11 14 Sydney Australia
12 10 So Paulo Brazil
13 12 Rio de Janeiro Brazil
14 16 Bern Switzerland
15 21 Melbourne Australia
6/26/14, 11:20 PM Which is the world's most expensive city? Cost of living survey 2012 | News | theguardian.com
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16 21 Shanghai China
17 20 Beijing China
18 15 Oslo Norway
19 30 Perth Australia
20 12 Libreville Gabon
21 17 Copenhagen Denmark
22 19 Seoul South Korea
23 34 Canberra Australia
24 31 Brisbane Australia
25 18 London United Kingdom
26 44 Khartoum Sudan
27 46 Adelaide Australia
28 29 St. Petersburg Russia
29 51 Caracas Venezuela
30 43 Shenzhen China
31 24 Tel Aviv Israel
31 38 Guangzhou China
33 32 New York City NY United States
34 23 Niamey Niger
35 70 Yangon Myanmar
36 61 Kinshasa Dem. Rep. of the Congo
37 27 Paris France
38 25 Milan Italy
39 41 Lagos Nigeria
39 63 Bamako Mali
41 67 Abidjan Cte d'Ivoire
42 34 Rome Italy
43 55 Brazzaville Congo
44 39 Djibouti Djibouti
45 33 Brasilia Brazil
46 39 Stockholm Sweden
47 37 Nouma New Caledonia
48 36 Vienna Austria
6/26/14, 11:20 PM Which is the world's most expensive city? Cost of living survey 2012 | News | theguardian.com
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Download the data
DATA: download the full spreadsheet
More data
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World government data
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Development and aid data
Source: Mercer
49 48 Baku Azerbaijan
50 25 Victoria Seychelles
50 44 Dakar Senegal
Top 10 least expensive cities for expats, 2012 ()
click heading to sort
2012 2011 City Country
Source: Mercer
205 200 Tirana Albania
205 208 Tegucigalpa Honduras
207 200 Skopje Macedonia
208 203 Kolkata India
209 207 Tunis Tunisia
210 212 La Paz Bolivia
211 210 Bishkek Kyrgyzstan
212 213 Managua Nicaragua
213 209 Islamabad Pakistan
214 214 Karachi Pakistan
6/26/14, 11:20 PM Which is the world's most expensive city? Cost of living survey 2012 | News | theguardian.com
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