The Most Expensive City in the World for Expats
The answer depends on who you listen to.
After several years with Moscow at the top spot, Tokyo is once again the most expensive city for expats according to the Mercer Annual Cost of Living Survey. And while Asian and European cities comprise most of the Top 10, London has dropped to 16th and New York moves into the Top 10. The least expensive city for expats is Johannesburg. With the economic downturn, the gap between the most expensive and least expensive cities is widening.
This Mercer Cost of Living Survey rates 143 cities. The measures compare costs of over 200 items including food, clothing, transport, and household goods. Considered a very comprehensive survey it is used by many companies and governments to determine compensation and allowances for their expat employees.
However, although the Mercer list is widely used, there are other companies with different results. The Numbeo.com Cost of Living Survey compares 30 goods and services in 382 cities. According to Numbeo.com the most expensive cities are Stavanger and Oslo in Norway with the least expensive cities listed as Hyderabad, Bangalore and Chennai in India.
Numbeo.com also compares countries. The most expensive countries are Norway, Denmark, Netherlands, France, Switzerland, Belgium, Ireland, Italy and Finland. The least expensive countries are India, Ukraine, Pakistan, Thailand, Malaysia, Bolivia, Indonesia, China, Belarus, Ecuador and Romania.
UBS provides yet another point of view with its Prices and Earnings Survey: Oslo, Zurich, Copenhagen, Geneva, Tokyo are the most expensive, while Kuala Lumpur, Manila, Delhi, Mumbai are the least expensive.
The statistics for this survey are collected from 73 cities, with more than 30,000 data points included in the analysis. Living costs were calculated based on a survey of 154 items in total, including a basket of goods, rent, and transport.
What seems clear from looking at these three surveys is that nothing has really changed: cities in Asia and the northern half of the Northern Hemisphere are generally most expensive. As the actual cost of goods and services fluctuates year to year, a routine glance at several sites will help an expat when planning negotiations for salary packages or assist the future expat in making a decision about where they would like to emigrate.
I live in Ecuador and it is a wondeful country. Its people are so nice and kind, they will give you the most warming welcome. I have out together a helpful fact sheet, and also an article on Ecuadorian manners and customs
I’d say Sydney has to be one of the top ones aswell. Barcelona is one of the cheapest, for tourists maybe not, but for expats everything becomes almost free once you know the places 😉
Good Morning,
I have been searching for areas in Italy and Languedoc-roussillon, France as potential relocation areas for myself and my husband. What is the best advice or relative experience as expats and our social security benefits? We do qualify for EU passports and realize that there are consequences for leaving USA in certain countries which I believe France is one of them regarding medical. Is there an age restriction for employment in Italy or Europe?
Can you keep or transfer USA social security without jeopardy? We heard that in France we would need to put up 20,000.00 € to have insurance and not be eligible without the money for residence, is this true? Can you offer any advice or links that might be helpful for our future plans?
Sincerely,
Dawn Lyons