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Mercer's 2010 Cost of Living survey highlights - Global

Last updated: 29 June 2010

 



REPORT HIGHLIGHTS

Global overview

Regional focus

  • Luanda in Angola is the world's most expensive city for expatriates; Karachi is the cheapest
  • Top 10 ranked cities are dominated by Africa, Europe and Asia

 

Worldwide top 50 cities: Cost of Living rankings

 

2010 Cost of living reports now available 2010 Cost of living reports now available
Learn more about the report Order Mercer's cost of living reports

Overview

The Mercer survey covers 214 cities across five continents

and measures the comparative cost of over 200 items in each

location, including housing, transport, food, clothing,

household goods and entertainment. It is the world’s most comprehensive cost of living survey and is used to help

multinational companies and governments determine

compensation allowance for their expatriate employees.

 

New York is used as the base city for the index and all cities are compared against New York. Currency movements are measured against the US dollar. The cost of housing – often

the biggest expense for expats - plays an important part in

determining where cities are ranked.

We sat down with Nathalie Constantin-Metral to discuss the Cost of Living Survey results for 2010 (Video 4.00 min)

 

For the first time, the ranking of the world’s top 10 most expensive cities includes three African urban centres: Luanda (1) in Angola, Ndjamena (3) in Chad and Libreville (7) in Gabon. The top ten also includes three Asian cities; Tokyo (2), Osaka (6) and Hong Kong (jointly ranked 8). Moscow (4), Geneva (5) and Zurich (joint 8) are the most expensive European cities, followed by Copenhagen (10).

Top 5 cost of living ranking cities worldwide

Top 5 cities – Overall
  • Luanda, Angola (1st)
  • Tokyo, Japan (2nd)
  • N'Djamena, Chad (3rd)
  • Moscow, Russia (4th)
  • Geneva, Switzerland (5th)

Top 5 cost of living ranking cities by region

Americas Asia Pacific Europe Middle East & Africa
  • Sao Paolo, Brazil (21st)
  • New York, United States (27th)
  • Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (29th)
  • Havana, Cuba (45th)
  • Los Angeles, United States (55th)
  • Tokyo, Japan (2nd)
  • Osaka, Japan (6th)
  • Hong Kong, Hong Kong (8th)
  • Singapore, Singapore (11th)
  • Seoul, South Korea (14th)
  • Moscow, Russia (4th)
  • Geneva, Switzerland (5th)
  • Zurich, Switzerland (8th)
  • Copenhagen, Denmark (10th)
  • Oslo, Norway (11th)
  • Luanda, Angola (1st)
  • N'Djamena, Chad (3rd)
  • Libreville, Gabon (7th)
  • Victoria, Seychelles (13th)
  • Tel Aviv, Israel (19th)

 

2010 Cost of living reports now available 2010 Cost of living reports now available
Learn more about the report Order Mercer

 


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