Singapore and Zurich are the most expensive cities in the world this year, the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), the research and analytical arm of the Economist Group, found in its worldwide cost of living survey published this Sunday.
Singapore retained its position as the world’s most expensive city for the ninth time in 11 years, has the highest transport costs in the world and is also one of the most expensive for clothes, groceries and alcohol, the survey showed.
Zurich moved up from sixth place and tied with Singapore due to rising food, household and recreational goods prices, as well as the Swiss franc. New York dropped to third place, tied with Geneva, while Hong Kong was fifth. The top ten were rounded out by Paris, Copenhagen, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Tel Aviv.
Western Europe provides four of the ten most expensive cities due to high inflation, especially food and clothing, the research showed. Russia’s largest cities, Moscow and St. Petersburg, fell in the rankings due to Ukraine-related sanctions and the exchange rate of the ruble.
The research analyzed the prices of more than 200 goods and services in 173 large cities. On average, prices in all categories rose by 7.4 percent compared to last year in local currency, the survey found. This was below the record 8.1 percent jump recorded last year, but significantly higher than in the previous five years. Utility prices in most cities appear to have risen at the slowest pace over the past year, while food prices have shown the largest growth.
This is how it looked last year:
New York (United States: U.S.), Singapore (Singapore), Tel Aviv (Israel), Hongkong (China), Los Angeles (U.S.), Zurich (Switzerland), Geneva (Switzerland), San Francisco (U.S.), Paris (France), Copenhagen ( Denmark), Capital writes.
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