Eight of the 10 most expensive cities to live in are in Asia, according to a new report.
For the second consecutive year, Hong Kong is the world’s priciest city for expats, followed by Toyko, Singapore and Seoul.
The Mercer 2019 Cost of Living Survey ranked more than 500 cities across the world on the cost of more than 200 items including housing, transportation, food, clothing, household goods and entertainment.
Zurich was the only European entrant in the top 10, coming in in fifth place, while Shanghai came sixth and Ashgabat in Turkmenistan came seventh.
Beijing, New York and Shenzhen, just across the border into China from Hong Kong, were ranked the eighth, ninth and 10th priciest cities to live in respectively.
At the other end of the spectrum were Tunis, Tunisia; Tashkent in Uzbekistan; and Pakistan’s capital Karachi at places 209, 208 and 207 respectively.
According to the 2019 ranking, UK cities have got slightly more affordable since last year. London dropped four places to 23, Birmingham fell seven places to 135 and Aberdeen, in at 137th, fell three places.
The reports finalised that the world’s most expensive cities to live in are as follows:
1. Hong Kong SAR, China
2. Tokyo, Japan
3. Singapore, Singapore
4. Seoul, South Korea
5. Zurich, Switzerland
6. Shanghai, China
7. Ashgabat, Turkmenistan
8. Beijing, China
9. New York, US
10. Shenzhen, China
As we're more concern on which cities that are most affordable in Southeast Asia for expats to live in, herewith the extraction from the report (in descending order):
(Rank 2018) (Rank 2019) – CITY
(4) (3) - Singapore
(52) (40) - Thailand
(106) (102) – Bandar Seri Begawan
(117) (105) – Jakarta
(142) (108) – Phnom Penh
(138) (109) – Manila
(137) (112) – Hanoi
(91) (117) – Yangon
(124) (120) – Ho Chi Minh
(145) (141) – Kuala Lumpur
Source : Mercer’s 2019 Cost of Living Survey
