The world’s most expensive cities for expats have been re-assessed in 2019 with eight of the top 10 located in Asia

Mercer, the world’s largest human resources consulting firm, has released its annual Cost of Living Survey, now in its 25th year.

As with last year, unstable housing markets, low inflation and fluctuating prices for goods and services are impacting the cost of doing business in various cities around the world – changing how and where multinationals operate.

The digital era, ageing populations, skills shortages and unpredictable political and economic contexts are further changing the landscape of global business.

Multinationals are embracing this transformation by offering remote jobs that are critical for accessing new talent, often in unexpected corners of the world.

Comparing the cost of living

It is important to remember that the ranking is not designed for locals. It is designed for multinational companies looking to place expat employees and is used as a tool to calculate how much overseas workers should be paid.

It also provides an indication to potential expats looking to determine how expensive their new country could be to live in.

Mercer uses New York as its base city and the US dollar as the base currency. The results differ from other surveys such as the Economist’s Worldwide Cost of Living as Mercer focuses specifically on products bought by expats.

If you’re a hiring manager looking to send an analyst to Kuala Lumpur, you need to know how much it costs to live there so you are compensating that worker fairly. It’s easier to consult a ready-made list than to do your own research on the ground. Most companies who use these lists are placing highly-skilled professionals or managers who are likely to earn more than the average local salary. Bryan Lufkin, BBC Capital

The survey analyses the price of over 200 goods and services in over 360 cities with substantial expat communities across the globe. The methodology assumes spending patterns among expats from different nationalities remain the same.

The weighting of goods and services are the same for all locations. The approach compares prices of comparable brands and retail outlets in both the home and host cities.

A drawback with this methodology is that certain factors can skew a city’s rating. For example, the high cost of car ownership and fuel in Singapore could propel it further up the rankings.

Region by region

Hong Kong (1) and Tokyo (2) have remained the world’s most expensive cities for expats. Singapore (3), Seoul (4) and Zurich (5) round out the top five meaning four out of five of the world’s most expensive cities for expats are in Asia.

Other cities in the top 10 include the Chinese cities of Shanghai (6), Beijing (8) and Shenzhen (10) as well as Ashgabat (7) in Turkmenistan, up 36 places from last year. The world’s least expensive cities for expats are Tunis (209), Tashkent (208) and Karachi (207).

New York (9) remains the most expensive city in the Americas. Zurich (5) remains the most expensive city in Europe, followed by Bern (12) and Geneva (13), all three in Switzerland.

Ndjamena (11) in Chad is the most expensive city for expats in Africa. Victoria (14) in the Seychelles follows, rising seven places. Moving up 15 spots, Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo (22) is the next African city on the list, followed by Libreville (24) in Gabon.

Mumbai (67) is India’s most expensive city, followed by New Delhi (118) and Chennai (154). Tel Aviv (15) remains the Middle East’s most expensive city for expats, followed by Dubai (21), Abu Dhabi (33) and Riyadh (35).

World’s most expensive cities for expats ranking

Sort the table below by cost of living or country to view the world’s most expensive cities for expats.

Rank City Country/region ± 2018 1 Hong Kong Hong Kong (SAR) - 2 Tokyo Japan - 3 Singapore Singapore 1 4 Seoul South Korea 1 5 Zurich Switzerland -2 6 Shanghai China 1 7 Ashgabat Turkmenistan 36 8 Beijing China 1 9 New York City United States 4 10 Shenzhen China 2 11 Ndjamena Chad -3 12 Bern Switzerland -2 13 Geneva Switzerland -2 14 Victoria Seychelles 7 15 Tel Aviv Israel 1 16 San Francisco United States 12 17 Guangzhou China -2 18 Los Angeles United States 17 19 Osaka Japan 4 20 Copenhagen Denmark -6 21 Dubai United Arab Emirates 5 22 Kinshasa Dem. Rep. of the Congo 15 23 London United Kingdom -4 24 Libreville Gabon -6 25 Lagos Nigeria 17 26 Luanda Angola -20 27 Moscow Russia -10 27 Nanjing China -2 29 Noumea New Caledonia -7 30 Abidjan Côte d'Ivoire -6 30 Chengdu China 1 32 Tianjin China -3 33 Abu Dhabi United Arab Emirates 7 33 Nagoya Japan 8 35 Taipei Taiwan -8 35 Riyadh Saudi Arabia 10 37 Chicago United States 14 38 Honolulu United States 16 39 Brazzaville Congo -20 40 Bangkok Thailand 12 41 Qingdao China -5 42 Washington United States 14 43 Dublin Ireland -11 44 Miami United States 16 45 Milan Italy -12 45 Shenyang China -7 47 Paris France -13 47 Dhaka Bangladesh 19 49 Boston United States 21 50 Sydney Australia -21 51 Vienna Austria -12 52 Yaounde Cameroon -9 53 Beirut Lebanon 12 54 Bangui Central African Republic -6 55 Rome Italy -9 56 White Plains United States 23 57 Manama Bahrain 20 58 Amsterdam Netherlands -8 59 Djibouti Djibouti 14 59 Houston United States 27 61 Oslo Norway -14 62 Dallas United States 23 63 Accra Ghana - 64 Seattle United States 26 65 Helsinki Finland -12 66 Douala Cameroon 7 67 Mumbai India -12 67 Munich Germany -10 69 Atlanta United States 26 70 Montevideo Uruguay 5 70 Morristown United States 27 72 Dakar Senegal -10 72 San Juan Puerto Rico 23 74 Frankfurt Germany -6 75 St. Petersburg Russia -26 75 Amman Jordan 19 77 Brussels Belgium -10 78 Minneapolis United States 24 79 Melbourne Australia -21 79 Santiago Chile -10 81 Berlin Germany -10 82 Madrid Spain -18 83 Port Of Spain Trinidad & Tobago 14 84 Luxembourg Luxembourg -13 85 Abuja Nigeria 14 86 Sao Paulo Brazil -28 87 Perth Australia -26 88 Conakry Guinea 18 89 Auckland New Zealand -8 90 Detroit United States 26 91 Barcelona Spain -12 92 Dusseldorf Germany -10 93 Panama City Panama 21 94 St. Louis United States 28 95 Lisbon Portugal -2 96 Canberra Australia -19 97 Prague Czech Republic -14 97 Nairobi Kenya 26 97 Pittsburgh United States 28 100 Hamburg Germany -12 100 Jeddah Saudi Arabia 17 102 Bandar Seri Begawan Brunei 4 103 Brisbane Australia -19 103 Muscat Oman 14 105 Jakarta Indonesia 12 106 Cleveland United States 19 107 Portland United States 23 108 Phnom Penh Cambodia 34 109 Adelaide Australia -22 109 Manila Philippines 29 111 Riga Latvia -19 112 Vancouver Canada -3 112 Hanoi Vietnam 25 114 Wellington New Zealand -13 115 Toronto Canada -6 115 Doha Qatar - 117 Yangon Myanmar -26 118 New Delhi India -15 119 Kuwait City Kuwait 2 120 Ho Chi Minh City Vietnam 4 121 Rio De Janeiro Brazil -22 121 Lima Peru 11 123 Lyon France -18 124 Bamako Mali -4 125 Pointe A Pitre Guadeloupe -21 126 Stuttgart Germany -18 127 Stockholm Sweden -38 128 Cotonou Benin -17 128 Athens Greece -16 128 Casablanca Morocco - 131 Bratislava Slovakia -18 131 San Jose Costa Rica 10 133 Buenos Aires Argentina -57 133 Havana Cuba 32 135 Birmingham United Kingdom -7 136 Guatemala City Guatemala -6 137 Aberdeen United Kingdom -3 138 Winston Salem United States 23 139 Montreal Canada 8 140 Tallinn Estonia - 141 Kuala Lumpur Malaysia 4 142 Ljubljana Slovenia -10 143 Zagreb Croatia -5 144 Mexico City Mexico 13 145 Lome Togo -11 145 Ouagadougou Burkina Faso -11 145 Glasgow United Kingdom 3 148 Quito Ecuador 8 149 Niamey Niger -6 150 Kiev Ukraine 23 151 Nuremberg Germany -6 152 Vilnius Lithuania -4 153 Calgary Canada 1 154 Chennai India -10 154 Istanbul Turkey 9 156 Leipzig Germany -6 157 Kingston Jamaica 7 158 Belfast United Kingdom -6 159 Maputo Mozambique 20 160 Rabat Morocco 5 161 Limassol Cyprus -8 161 Ottawa Canada -1 161 Port Louis Mauritius - 164 Budapest Hungary -13 165 Port Au Prince Haiti -40 166 Tirana Albania 6 166 San Salvador El Salvador 8 166 Cairo Egypt 22 169 Santo Domingo Dominican Republic 9 170 Bogota Colombia -2 171 Dar Es Salaam Tanzania 9 171 Addis Ababa Ethiopia 12 173 Warsaw Poland -19 174 Brasilia Brazil -16 175 Kigali Rwanda -6 176 Bucharest Romania - 177 Sofia Bulgaria -2 178 Baku Azerbaijan 8 179 Bengaluru India -9 180 Cape Town South Africa -10 181 Belgrade Serbia - 182 Colombo Sri Lanka -24 183 Kampala Uganda 9 184 Algiers Algeria 11 185 Johannesburg South Africa -8 186 Asuncion Paraguay -3 187 Monterrey Mexico 6 188 Harare Zimbabwe -23 189 Kolkata India -7 189 Gaborone Botswana - 191 Almaty Kazakhstan -4 192 Nouakchott Mauritania 2 193 Blantyre Malawi 11 194 Sarajevo Bosnia and Herzegovina -3 195 La Paz Bolivia 4 196 Lusaka Zambia -11 197 Yerevan Armenia 1 198 Minsk Belarus 4 199 Tegucigalpa Honduras 2 200 Managua Nicaragua - 201 Skopje Macedonia -4 202 Tbilisi Georgia 1 203 Islamabad Pakistan -13 204 Windhoek Namibia -8 204 Banjul Gambia 2 206 Bishkek Kyrgyzstan 1 207 Karachi Pakistan -2 208 Tashkent Uzbekistan 1 209 Tunis Tunisia -1

You can download Mercer’s complete 2019 Cost of Living Survey here.

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