What Are the World's Most Expensive Cities?

The world’s most expensive city for the fifth year in a row is Singapore, closely followed by Paris, Zurich and Hong Kong according to the Worldwide Cost of Living Survey.

The bi-annual survey by the Economist Intelligence Unit placed Sydney as world’s 10th most expensive.

London received its lowest ranking in more than two decades, coming in at 30th on the list, and is almost 30 per cent cheaper than Paris.

Strength in the euro and a weaker pound saw Dublin overtake London, up six spots to 19.

“A strong euro has driven up the relative cost of living in not just Dublin, but all eurozone cities included in the survey,” the report’s author, Roxana Slavcheva, said.

The report found that partly due to Brexit economic uncertainty Britain’s cities were at their cheapest in more than two decades.

New York and Los Angeles were ranked 13th and 14th, with no city from the US being listed in the top 10.

Tokyo fell out of the top 10 due to ongoing low inflation. It was ranked the world’s most expensive city up until 2013.

"The competition between Asian hubs like Singapore, Hong Kong (fourth) and Seoul (joint sixth with Geneva), on the one hand and European destinations such as Paris, Zurich and Oslo on the other will be ones to watch over the next survey cycle,” Slavcheva said.

"More interesting is the fall in the ranking for the Japanese cities, Tokyo and Osaka, which were in the top five most expensive just last year."

At the bottom end of the spectrum in the 10 cheapest cities were New Delhi, Bucharest and Algiers. War-torn Damascus was found to be the cheapest in the survey.

Twice a year, the EIU surveys 400 individual prices across over 150 products and services in 133 cities in 93 countries in order to rank locations by the cost of living.

The World's 10 Most Expensive Cities

Singapore (=)

Paris, France (+5)

Zurich, Switzerland (+1)

Hong Kong (-2)

Oslo, Norway (+6)

Geneva, Switzerland (+1)

Seoul, South Korea (=)

Copenhagen, Denmark (+1)

Tel Aviv, Israel (+2)

Sydney, Australia (+4)