For the first time ever in its over 30-year history, three destinations share the title of the world’s most expensive city. While Singapore holds its position from the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) Worldwide Cost of Living Survey 2018, Hong Kong and Paris join in on the (unenviable) top spot this year.
Since 2014, the Little Red Dot has been the top dog in the EIU survey, but the likes of Hong Kong and Paris leaped to the peak from fourth and second place respectively last year.
The top ten in the list is mainly split between Asian and European cities, with Japan’s Osaka and South Korea’s Seoul adding to the Asian contingent this time around. The rest consists of the European usual suspects Geneva, Zurich, Copenhagen, while New York, Los Angeles, and Israel’s Tel Aviv round off the bottom. Lots of tied positions too, with Geneva and Osaka both in fifth place; Seoul, Copenhagen and New York tied for seventh; Tel Aviv and Los Angeles at the 10th spot for the most expensive cities to live in.
The survey itself evaluates the individual costs of 160 products and service — including food, clothing, household supplies, transport, and bills — across 133 cities around the world. While we may not exactly feel like we’re living in the most expensive city in the world, the EIU survey is meant to be used to calculate cost-of-living allowances, which would go towards building appropriate compensation packages for expats.
Asian cities were highlighted as the more pricier locations for general grocery shopping, while European cities tend to have higher costs in personal care, recreation, and entertainment. Interestingly enough, EIU found out that the global cost of living has actually fallen to 69 percent from 73 percent last year, and still significantly lower than the 89 percent from ten years ago. This is when the average cost of living for all cities use New York as the base city for prices.
On the other end of the spectrum, the Venezuelan capital of Caracas is considered the cheapest city in the world thanks to degrading economic conditions — inflation soared to 1,000,000 percent last year. Other cheap destinations (but not necessarily liveable hotspots) include the Syrian city of Damascus, Tashkent in Uzbekistan, Almaty in Kazakhstan and India’s Bangalore.
Reader Interactions