INTERNATIONAL COST OF LIVING

TWICE a year Mercer sends a whole load of lucky people to the shops to find out how much things cost. 200 things to be precise, from a loaf of bread to a glass of moon juice. They also throw in the cost of accommodation and then benchmark 143 cities against the cost of those same things in New York which is given the base value of 100 in the index. 

According to the findings of those happy shoppers, Tokyo has overtaken Moscow as the most expensive city on earth for expatriates with a ranking of 143 (that’s a coincidence!), meaning it’s 43% more expensive for an expatriate to live in Tokyo than in New York. 

This last year has seen worldwide falls in petrol and food prices for obvious reasons. Inflation, currency changes against the dollar and regional accommodation costs have seen a number of cities move up or down the rankings by a significant margin.

 

Beijing for example has risen from 20th to 9th primarily due to currency strength whereas London has fallen 13 places to 16th and Warsaw has dropped like a stone by 78 places, both for the opposite reason. Johannesburg has replaced Asunción in Paraguay as the least expensive city in the ranking.