Quote:
Originally Posted by usuariodeldia
A new study by The Economist ranks these cities as the most expensive in the world:
1. Singapore, Singapore
2. Paris, France
3. Zurich, Switzerland
4. Hong Kong, Hong Kong
5. Oslo, Norway
6. Geneva, Switzerland
7. Seoul, South Korea
8. Copenhagen, Denmark
9. Tel Aviv, Israel
10. Sydney, Australia
I have my doubts...
In my opinion, Paris is NOT more expensive than the Scandinavian cities, Zurich, Geneva and Sydney.
London ranks (#30)?! and NYC (#13)? For real???!
What are your thoughts?
Source: The Economist
https://twitter.com/TheEIU/status/97...0180315-h0xjel
https://www.eiu.com/topic/worldwide-cost-of-living |
Did you download the free report and read it ? To understand (-a little unless you pay the full report-) the ranking?
It's about a basket of goods average people buy to live. Change of exchange rates for currencies are important.
And Paris is horribly expensive and that's a terrible default.
For flats:
https://www.globalpropertyguide.com/...pensive-cities
Paris is more expensive than Zurich, Geneva and Sydney. What is more surprising isn't that Paris is here, but London isn't here. As a parisian, the metro bill in London can make me faint. As well as rents. As well as a lot of things. I guess movement of currencies are responsible for a big part of these weird rankings.
here is the abstract:
"A European resurgence
In 2018 Singapore retains its title as the world’s most expensive city for the fifth consecutive year in
a top ten that is largely split between Asia and Europe. Seoul is the only other city in the top ten that
has maintained its ranking from the previous year. In the rest of Asia, Hong Kong and Sydney join
Singapore and Seoul in the top ten. Low inflation has pushed Tokyo and Osaka out of the top ten in the
cost of living ranking covering 133 cities worldwide. The Japanese capital, which was the world’s most
expensive city until 2013, has moved seven places down the ranking in the past 12 months. Conversely,
Seoul, which was ranked 21st five years ago, is now in sixth position.
Tel Aviv, which was ranked 34th just five years ago, is now the ninth most expensive city in the
survey. Currency appreciation played a part in this rise, but Tel Aviv also has some specific costs that
drive up prices, notably those of buying, insuring and maintaining a car, which push transport costs
79% above New York prices. Tel Aviv is also the second most expensive city in the survey in which to
buy alcohol.
Within western Europe it is non-euro area cities that largely remain the most expensive. Zurich
(2nd), Oslo (5th), Geneva (6th) and Copenhagen (8th) are among the ten priciest. The lone exception
is Paris (2nd), which has featured among the top ten most expensive cities since 2003. With west
European cities returning to the fold, the region now accounts for three of the five most expensive
cities and for one-half of the top ten. Asia accounts for a further four cities, while Tel Aviv is the sole
Middle Eastern representative.
New York has moved four places down the ranking to 13th position owing to a weakening of the US
dollar in 2017, which has also affected the position of other US cities. This, however, still represents a
comparatively sharp increase in the relative cost of living compared with five years ago, when New York
was ranked 27th.
Last year deflation and devaluations were prominent factors in determining the cost of living, with
many cities moving down the ranking owing to currency weakness or falling local prices. Both prices
and a number of currencies rallied during 2017, and although inflation in many cities has remained
moderate, the impact is reflected in the average cost of living. Taking an average of the indices for all
cities surveyed using New York as base city, the global cost of living has risen to 74%, up slightly from
73% last year. This remains significantly lower than five years ago, when the average cost of living index
across the cities surveyed was 85.5%.
Despite topping the ranking, Singapore still offers relative value in some categories, especially
compared with its regional peers. For categories such as personal care, household goods and domestic
help Singapore remains significantly cheaper than its peers, but it remains the most expensive place
in the world to buy and run a car and the third-priciest destination in which to buy clothes. In terms of
food and drink, the cost of living in Singapore is on a par with that of Shanghai in China. Seoul, Tokyo
and Hong Kong are the three most expensive places in the world to buy staple goods. In Seoul, topping
up a grocery basket is almost 50% more expensive than in New York. "
About the ranking:
"
Background: about the survey
The Worldwide Cost of Living is a biannual Economist Intelligence Unit survey that compares more
than 400 individual prices across 160 products and services. These include food, drink, clothing,
household supplies and personal care items, home rents, transport, utility bills, private schools,
domestic help and recreational costs.
The survey itself is a purpose-built Internet tool designed to help human resources and finance
managers calculate cost-of-living allowances and build compensation packages for expatriates and
business travellers. The survey incorporates easy-to-understand comparative cost-of-living indices
between cities. The survey allows for city-to-city comparisons, but for the purpose of this report all
cities are compared with a base city of New York, which has an index set at 100. The survey has been
carried out for more than 30 years.
Methodology
More than 50,000 individual prices are collected in each survey, conducted each March and September
and published in June and December. Economist Intelligence Unit researchers survey a range of stores:
supermarkets, mid-priced stores and higher-priced speciality outlets. Prices reflect costs for more than
160 items in each city. These are not recommended retail prices or manufacturers’ costs; they are what
the paying customer is charged.
Prices gathered are then converted into a central currency (US dollars) using the prevailing exchange
rate and weighted in order to achieve comparative indices. The cost-of-living index uses an identical
set of weights that is internationally based and not geared towards the spending pattern of any specific
nationality. Items are individually weighted across a range of categories, and a comparative index is
produced using the relative difference by weighted item. "
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