London took second place - because the pound sterling exchange rate rose by 11% against the dollar, the British capital jumped up five positions. The top five most expensive cities in the world are rounded out by the Japanese city of Osaka and Hong Kong, which now belongs to China. By the way, in 2004 St. Petersburg also entered the top ten most expensive cities. A year ago it ranked twelfth, now tenth. According to the results of the Mercer Human Resource Consulting study conducted for 144 cities around the world, the cheapest city was Asuncion, the capital of Paraguay.
The fall in the exchange rate of the American currency seriously affected the cost of living in major American cities, which did not even make it into the top ten. New York has become cheaper and now ranks 12th (a year ago it was tenth). Los Angeles and Chicago occupy 27th and 35th places respectively.
But the positions of almost all European cities have jumped sharply. Copenhagen moved from 15th to 8th place, Milan from 17th to 13th, Dublin from 21st to 14th, Paris from 23rd to 17th. According to the study data of the last two years, prices in Germany have risen significantly. The largest German cities - Berlin, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt and Munich - rose in the list by as many as 20-30 positions. Italy also became more expensive: Rome moved from 41st to 21st place.
True, it should be borne in mind that the data from this study are intended for use by international companies that, based on its results, determine the amount of compensation for their employees working in the respective cities.
Kiev took 54th place in the world in terms of cost of living, ranking between Brussels (Belgium) and Miami (USA). According to Mercer's research, last year Kiev ranked 24th. The change in position in the ranking is due to the fact that the capital of Ukraine turned out to be one of three cities in Europe where the cost of living compared to other cities did not increase over the past year, along with Riga (Latvia) and Warsaw (Poland).
The final indicator is based on prices for 200 types of goods and services necessary for life in a particular city, including housing costs, food, clothing, transport costs, and entertainment. However, given the purpose of the monitoring being conducted, only goods and services of an “international” quality level are taken into account. The rental of luxury apartments in prestigious areas, the operation of first-class foreign cars, the education of children in private schools, and prices in boutiques are taken into account.
The positions of cities in the list are calculated on the basis of relative indicators. The cost of basic goods and services in New York is taken as the basis, to which an indicator of 100 is assigned. The indicators of other cities are calculated depending on how much more expensive or cheaper living in them is. So, this year Tokyo received 130.7 points, London - 119, Moscow - 117.4, and Asuncion - only 36.5 points.
At the same time, in the last few years the gap between the most expensive and the cheapest city in the world has been narrowing. True, this trend is already on the decline. This year the gap narrowed by only two points; last year the difference decreased by four points, and two years ago - by as many as 15.