Ever wonder where the most expensive places to live in the world are? Well the The Economist Intelligence Unit just released their numbers on the topic, after assessing 400 prices of 160 different products and 133 different services across different cities in the world. For the third year in a row Singapore came out on top as the most expensive city you could possibly live in.
Closely following Singapore as the most expensive city is Zurich and then Hong Kong, both of which made big jumps in the ranks over the past year. The rest of the top ten spots go to Geneva, Paris, London, New York, Copenhagen, Los Angeles, and then Seoul.
To figure this out the unit puts out a Worldwide Cost of Living survey two times each year. It collects information about more than 50,000 different prices that includes things like rent, utility bills, food, drink, clothing, personal care items, transportation, domestic help, recreational costs, and private schools.
Singapore’s cost gets driven high up thanks to the fact that their transportation costs are 2.7 times higher than they are in New York. The city’s utility costs are also extremely high, which can jack up the prices of hotels and stays for tourists.
Singapore is not the highest in every category however. The groceries in Singapore are actually significantly cheaper than they are in neighboring cities, for example the cost of groceries in Seoul is 33 percent higher. Over all Asia has three of the most expensive cities in the world, while India has four of the cheapest: New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, and Chennai.
Out of the 133 cities that are surveyed in this project, this year the cheapest goes to Lusaka Zambia. Here are the official numbers:
World’s 10 most expensive cities in which to live in 2016
1. Singapore
2. Zurich, Switzerland
2. Hong Kong
4. Geneva, Switzerland
5. Paris
6. London
7. New York
8. Copenhagen, Denmark
8. Seoul, South Korea
8. Los Angeles
World’s 10 least expensive cities in which to live in 2016
124. Damascus, Syria
124. Caracas, Venezuela
126. New Delhi
127. Almaty, Kazakhstan
127. Algiers, Algeria
127. Chennai, India
127. Karachi, Pakistan
131. Mumbai, India
132. Bangalore, India
133. Lusaka, Zambia
That’s a little confusing how they break down the numbers
I can’t belive that Los Angeles made that list. Oh wait yes I can