Where to live when you want to move abroad or go on vacation? The firm ECA International, which specializes in international mobility, has just published its traditional ranking of the cities in the world where the cost of living is the highest. Rising prices – for rent, energy, gas and food – are driving up the cost of living around the world and bolstering some cities’ place in this ranking, while others are jumping .
As in 2021, Hong Kong remains the most expensive city in the world. There, a coffee costs 3.88 pounds sterling (4.53 euros, at the exchange rate of June 8) and a kilo of tomatoes 8.57 pounds sterling (10 euros). “The most expensive gasoline in the world is in Hong Kong at 2.26 pounds sterling (2.64 euros) per litre,” notes ECA International.
New York in the United States is the second most expensive city in the world. This is two places more than last year. The fault, according to ECA International, to the 12% increase in rents. It is for the same reason, with a 20% increase in rents, that London jumped in the rankings, becoming the 4th most expensive city in the world. “London and New York have seen the largest price increases among the ten most expensive cities, mainly due to soaring housing rental costs – up an alarming 20% in London and 12% in New York “, warns ECA International.
Paris, 11th most expensive city in Europe
Third in the ranking, just ahead of London, we find Geneva in Switzerland. It precedes Tokyo in Japan (5th position), Tel Aviv in Israel (6th), Zurich in Switzerland (7th), Shanghai and Canton in China (8th and 9th) and Seoul in South Korea, in tenth place. Note also the place of Singapore in 13th position or Beijing in China in 14th place. Taipei in Taiwan, 20th in the ranking, enters the top 20.
ECA International also publishes the ranking of the most expensive cities in Europe. This is where we find Paris. The French capital is the 11th city with the highest cost of living on the European continent. It loses – and this is good news – two places compared to 2022. We therefore find in the top 5 the cities also present in the world ranking: Geneva in Switzerland, London in the United Kingdom, Zurich and Bern in Switzerland and Copenhagen in Denmark. Reykjavik in Iceland drops from 17th to 8th place in the ranking.
“Fuel is one of the main factors contributing to the rising cost of living in the world”, observes in its study ECA International. “Food prices are skyrocketing around the world partly because of the shortages created by the war in Ukraine”, also continues the cabinet. And the experts note: “Ranked in 207th place, Ankara, in Turkey, is now the cheapest city in the world for expatriates and tourists. »
This classification may however differ from reality since it imagines an “international way of life”. Gasoline is perhaps a less important factor when you live in a big city with lots of public transport or you don’t eat certain products everywhere.
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