Here are a few key findings:


• Moscow is Europe’s most expensive city.


• Tel Aviv is the most expensive city in the Middle East.


• The cheapest European city to in the survey is Skopje in Macedonia.


• Japan has 3 cities in the top 10. • China now has 2 cities in the top 20 with Hong Kong staying at number 9 and Shanhai moving up 5 places to number 16.


• Australian cities have all also risen with 3 now in the top 20.


Although this survey provides a good benchmark there are a few flaws. Hong Kong is the 9th most expensive city, but the tax rate is much lower so somebody living there could find themselves with a higher disposable income than, for example, someone living in Paris which is 37th on the list.


Also it is unclear how the survey goes about comparing goods. In a city like London the variation in price for, say, a pair of blue jeans is vast. You could pay as little as $12 or as much as $500. It would


Top 40 most expensive cities for expats, 2012 2012


2011 City


1 2 3 4 5


6 7


8 9


10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17


18 19


20


2 1 6 4 5 7 8 3 9


11 14 10 12 16 21 21 20 15 30 12


Tokyo Luanda Osaka Moscow Geneva Zurich


Singapore N’Djamena Hong Kong Nagoya Sydney São Paulo Rio de Janeiro Bern Melbourne Shanghai Beijing Oslo Perth Libreville


Country


Japan Angola Japan Russia


Switzerland Switzerland Singapore Chad Hong Kong Japan Australia Brazil Brazil


Switzerland Australia China China Norway Australia Gabon


21 22 23 24 25


26 27


28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40


17 19 34 31 18 44 46 29 51 43 24 38 32 23 70


61 27


25 41


63


Copenhagen Seoul Canberra Brisbane London Khartoum Adelaide St. Petersburg Caracas Shenzhen Tel Aviv Guangzhou New York City NY Niamey Yangon Kinshasa Paris Milan Lagos Bamako


perhaps be useful to see which cities provided the greatest flexibility in costs. Things which are also not taken into account include; household bills and local taxes and mean that the results do not quite paint the full picture.


Source: Mercer


Denmark South Korea Australia Australia United Kingdom Sudan Australia Russia Venezuela China Israel China United States Niger Myanmar Dem. Rep. of the Congo France Italy Nigeria Mali


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