Singapore, Paris, Hong Kong: The Economist names the world’s most expensive cities

The Economist ranks 133 cities across 93 counties for the prices of 160 products and services, and provides a score against New York City, which is indexed to 100.

For the first time there are three cities that share the undesirable title of the world’s most expensive city – Singapore, Paris and Hong Kong are all tied at 107 points.

Australia’s five biggest cities were included in the survey, as were Auckland and Wellington, with Sydney unsurprisingly ranking as the most expensive Australian city with a score of 89.

However, this wasn’t enough to place it inside the top 10, coming in at 16th overall. This is a -6 change from the 2018 report.

Perth meanwhile is the cheapest of Australia’s capital cities, ranking 64th in the world.

It also placed inside the top 10 for ranking changes in the past 12 months, as did Adelaide, with both cities falling 11 places down the rankings.

The full report noted the weakening Australian dollar was the biggest cause of the falls in our cities’ rankings – over the past year our dollar has fallen six cents to the US dollar.

Here’s the full list comparing Australian cities.

Source: The Economist 

The 10 most expensive cities

Singapore is once again the most expensive city in the world to live in, but this time it’s joined by Paris and Hong Kong.

Switzerland occupies 4th and joint fifth spot alongside Osaka in Japan, while Seoul, Copenhagen, New York, LA and Tel Aviv in Israel round out the top 10.

The report noted that countries with appreciating currencies, such as the US, saw significant climbs in its cities.

“These movements represent a sharp increase in the relative cost of living compared with five years ago, when New York and Los Angeles tied in 39th position,” it said. 

Overall there were four Asian countries in the top 10, and three from Scandinavia, which follows the Nordic model of high taxes on its citizens.

Source: The Economist 

The 10 cheapest cities

Along with occupying many of the top 10 spots, Asia used to dominate the top 10 spots for cheapest cities, but not anymore.

A lot of the 10 cheapest cities belong to countries undergoing significant economic or political instability – Caracas in Venezuela occupies the top spot after a disastrous 2018 and early 2019, which saw hyperinflation run rampant and a military coup take place.

Damascas in Syria – last year’s number one – slips down to second spot with a score of 25, which is still significantly higher than Caracas’s score.

This is despite inflation averaging at an estimated 28% during 2017 and a near constant drop in the Syrian pound since the onset of war in 2011.

India and Pakistan occupy four of these spots.

Source: The Economist