Singapore, Bangkok and Jakarta are the top three most expensive cities to live in ASEAN for international assignees, a new survey by ECA International, an international human resources consulting firm, found.

The survey compares a basket of like-for-like consumer goods and services across 440 locations worldwide.

Within Asia, Beijing is now the second most expensive location for international assignees, up from 5th position last year. While Tokyo still tops the list of the most expensive location within Asia for expatriates, globally it has fallen to 10th place on the back of a weaker Yen – a significant drop from last year, when it was the most expensive city in the world for expatriate staff. Companies that need to assign staff to Japan can now do so for considerably less than in recent years, despite the country’s long period of deflation being reversed earlier this year.

Globally, Beijing is the 15th most expensive location for expatriates. Shanghai is in 18th position in the global results, and 4th in Asia. Hong Kong, in 28th place globally and 8th in Asia, is Greater China’s third most expensive city.

Singapore has dropped one place in the regional ranking, to 9th place. It is now behind Hong Kong for the first time since 2010. This is largely due to the recent weakening of the Singapore dollar against the US dollar to which the Hong Kong currency is pegged. Globally, Singapore sits in 30th position, also just behind Hong Kong.

After Japan, some of the biggest falls in living costs in Asia have been seen in Indonesia – also partly as a result of a weaker currency. Jakarta has dropped 45 spots to 172nd place. Karachi remains the cheapest location surveyed in Asia.

The ranking of the most expensive cities in ASEAN is as follows:

Regional rank 2013 Location Global rank 2013 9 Singapore 30 26 Bangkok 170 27 Jakarta 172 28 Vientiane 187 30 Kuala Lumpur 200 31 Yangon 202 32 Chiang Mai 206 33 Metro-Manila 207 34 Phnom Penh 215 35 Surabaya 217 36 Hanoi 221 37 Ho Chi Minh City 223 39 George Town 230

Here the full list for Asia:

Regional rank 2013 Location Global rank 2013 1 Tokyo 10 2 Beijing 15 3 Nagoya 16 4 Shanghai 18 5 Yokohama 20 6 Seoul 21 7 Osaka 23 8 Hong Kong 28 9 Singapore 30 10 Guangzhou 38 11 Shenzhen 40 12 Busan 41 13 Ulsan 51 14 Taipei 69 15 Dalian 79 16 Tianjin 90 17 Qingdao 91 18 Chongqing 104 19 Kaohsiung 110 20 Suzhou 112 21 Chengdu 113 22 Wuhan 116 22 Xiamen 116 24 Nanjing 119 25 Xi’an 120 26 Bangkok 170 27 Jakarta 172 28 Vientiane 187 29 Dhaka 198 30 Kuala Lumpur 200 31 Yangon 202 32 Chiang Mai 206 33 Metro-Manila 207 34 Phnom Penh 215 35 Surabaya 217 36 Hanoi 221 37 Ho Chi Minh City 223 38 New Delhi 228 39 George Town 230 40 Colombo 235 41 Mumbai 237 42 Ulaanbaatar 240 43 Bangalore 244 44 Chennai 246 45 Pune 247 46 Kathmandu 248 47 Kolkata 250 48 Hyderabad 252 49 Islamabad 253 50 Karachi 256

Top 50 most expensive countries worldwide:

Country Location Global rank 2013 Global rank 2012 Venezuela Caracas 1 7 Angola Luanda 2 4 Norway Oslo 3 3 South Sudan Juba 4 14 Norway Stavanger 5 8 Switzerland Zurich 6 9 Switzerland Geneva 7 10 Switzerland Bern 8 11 Switzerland Basel 9 12 Japan Tokyo 10 1 Denmark Copenhagen 11 17 Russia Moscow 12 15 Congo Brazzaville 13 29 Finland Helsinki 14 28 China Beijing 15 21 Japan Nagoya 16 2 Gabon Libreville 17 30 China Shanghai 18 25 Sweden Stockholm 19 19 Japan Yokohama 20 5 Korea Republic Seoul 21 22 Congo Pointe Noire 22 33 Japan Osaka 23 6 Israel Tel Aviv 24 46 Papua New Guinea Port Moresby 25 13 Sweden Gothenburg 26 34 Israel Jerusalem 27 54 Hong Kong Hong Kong 28 32 France Paris 29 43 Singapore Singapore 30 31 Australia Sydney 31 16 Azerbaijan Baku 32 40 United States of America Manhattan 33 37 Senegal Dakar 34 49 Germany Berlin 35 52 Nigeria Abuja 36 35 Nigeria Lagos 37 39 China Guangzhou 38 57 Australia Canberra 39 18 China Shenzhen 40 61 Korea Republic Busan 41 53 Russia St Petersburg 42 45 Guinea Conakry 43 97 Chad N’Djamena 44 71 Australia Melbourne 45 23 Australia Adelaide 46 20 Australia Perth 47 24 Belgium Brussels 48 63 United States of America Honolulu 49 51 United States of America New York 50 50

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