Mercer’s latest Cost of Living Survey for Worldwide Cities has seen some changes from last year. In a flash overview, Tokyo is now officially the world’s most expensive city to live in for expats. Johannesburg is the cheapest. The top ten are dominated by European and Asian cities, while a major reshuffle took place thanks to currency fluctuations.
UK’s London dropped a massive 13 ranks to position 16 and New York has now joined the top ten. Here are the top ten at a glance:
| Rank 2009 | Rank 2008 | City | Country | Index 2009 | Index 2008 |
|
1 |
2 |
TOKYO |
JAPAN |
143.7 |
127 |
|
2 |
11 |
OSAKA |
JAPAN |
119.2 |
110 |
|
3 |
1 |
MOSCOW |
RUSSIA |
115.4 |
142.4 |
|
4 |
8 |
GENEVA |
SWITZERLAND |
109.2 |
115.8 |
|
5 |
6 |
HONG KONG |
HONG KONG |
108.7 |
117.6 |
|
6 |
9 |
ZURICH |
SWITZERLAND |
105.2 |
112.7 |
|
7 |
7 |
COPENHAGEN |
DENMARK |
105.0 |
117.2 |
|
8 |
22 |
NEW YORK CITY |
US |
100.0 |
100.0 |
|
9 |
20 |
BEIJING |
CHINA |
99.6 |
101.9 |
|
10 |
13 |
SINGAPORE |
SINGAPORE |
98.0 |
109.1 |
