Singapore has retained its position as the most expensive city in the world according to the 2016 Worldwide Cost of Living survey carried out by the Economic Intelligence Unit.
Although costs of grocery items in Singapore were found to be fairly affordable, the city remains consistently expensive in other categories. It is the most expensive place in the world to buy and run a car and also a very expensive city in which to buy clothes and pay for utility costs, said the EIU.
China’s Hong Kong has moved up seven places in the ranking into joint second place alongside Zurich, Switzerland. The UK’s capital, London, was sixth, while New York – which the survey uses as its base city to judge all others by – was seventh.
Only eight cities of the 133 surveyed have seen their ranking position remain unchanged in the last 12 months.
“In nearly 17 years of working on this survey, I can’t recall a year as volatile as 2015,” commented Jon Copestake, an editor of the survey. “Falling commodity prices have created deflationary pressures in some countries, but in others, currency weakness caused by these falls has led to spiralling inflation.”
The world’s cheapest city was found to be Lusaka in Zambia, followed by Bangalore and Mumbai in India.
Top ten most expensive cities (last year’s position in brackets)
Singapore, Singapore (1)
= Zurich, Switzerland (3)
= Hong Kong, China (10)
Geneva, Switzerland (7)
Paris, France (2)
London, UK (11)
New York, USA (22)
Copenhagen, Denmark (8)
Seoul, South Korea (10)
Los Angeles, USA (29)
Article by David Fuller