According to a report eight of the 10 most expensive cities to live in are in Asia and for the second consecutive year Hong Kong is the world’s priciest city for expats. It is followed by Tokyo, Singapore and Seoul.
More than 500 cities across the world was ranked by the Mercer 2019 Cost of Living Survey based on the cost of more than 200 items that included housing, transportation, food, clothing, household goods and entertainment.
In the top 10 Zurich was the only European entrant and took the fifth spot while Shanghai took sight and Ashgabat in Turkmenistan came seventh.
The the eighth, ninth and 10th priciest cities to live in were Beijing, New York and Shenzhen, just across the border into China from Hong Kong.
Tunis, Tunisia; Tashkent in Uzbekistan; and Pakistan’s capital Karachi were at places 209, 208 and 207 respectively.
The UK have become slightly affordable since last year according to the 2019 ranking and London had dropped four places to 23. Birmingham fell seven places to 135 and Aberdeen, in at 137th, fell three places but Glasgow was an exception here the increases in the cost of living pushed it up three places to 145.
Due to the strengthening of US dollars against the pound UK cities saw a fall in this year’s ranking mentioned Kate Fitzpatrick, global mobility practice leader for UK & Ireland at Mercer.
There were low price inflation that kept any increases in the cost of living to a minimum for expatriates and locals alike.
The Quality of Living ranking’s findings indicated that the UK remained an attractive destination for organizations looking to relocate personnel to international business and financial centres inspite of the well-publicized macro headwinds that included Brexit.
The world’s most expensive cities to live in as per rankings are Hong Kong SAR, Tokyo, Singapore, Seoul,Zurich,Shanghai, Ashgabat, Beijing, New York and Shenzhen,
Tags: UK & Ireland Hong Kong
