The most recent survey out indicates that Moscow tops the list for most expensive cities for expatriates, while Asuncion, Paraguay is the cheapest. The annual survey is undertaken by Mercer Human Relations Consulting and is the world’s most comprehensive cost of living survey and is used to help multinational companies and governments determine compensation allowances for their expatriate employees. It should be noted that this survey is for expatriates, and does not directly measure costs for citizens of the countries who may benefit from subsidies and tax breaks.
Moscow was followed by Tokyo, London, Oslo and Seoul in the top five. Moscow was the most expensive city in last year’s survey, and the only city to move into the top five this year is Oslo, which ranked 10th in 2007.
Yvonne Traber, a principal and research manager at Mercer, commented: “Current market conditions have led to the further weakening of the US dollar which, coupled with the strengthening of the Euro and many other currencies, has caused significant changes in this year’s rankings.”
Although the traditionally expensive cities of Western Europe and Asia still feature in the top 20, cities in Eastern Europe, Brazil and India are creeping up the list. Conversely, some locations such as Stockholm and New York now appear less costly by comparison.”
In Europe, Copenhagen (7th overall) and Geneva rounded (8th) out the top five most expensive cities. For the Americas, New York City tops the list but fell from 15th in 2007 to 22nd in this year’s list. Other American cities in the top five include São Paulo, Brazil (25th), Rio de Janeiro (31st), Toronto (54th) and Los Angeles (55th).
The top five cities in Asia, besides Tokyo and Seoul include Hong Kong, which came in 6th overall, Osaka, Japan (11th), and Singapore (13th).
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