London rises up the ranking to 12th place in Mercer survey
Luanda in Angola is the world’s most expensive city to live in for the second year in a row followed by Chad’s capital N’Djamena and Hong Kong, according to Mercer’s 2014 Cost of Living survey.
The rankings showed that London was the 12th costliest place up 13 places from last year. Other UK cities also made the list with Birmingham in 90th place up 45 places, Aberdeen in 94th position up 34 spots and Glasgow at 108 up 49. Belfast was the least pricey in 120th place but it was still up 38 places from last year.
Ellyn Karetnick, UK head of Mercer’s International Mobility Practice, said: "This year, UK cities have surged in the ranking, mainly as a result of a strengthening of the British pound against the US dollar. The UK’s soaring housing market has also had an impact, with added pressure on the rental market as many buyers face difficulties in obtaining a mortgage.
"Glasgow and Birmingham have experienced the greatest jumps as they have had significant cost-increases on goods and services, and rentals.”
European and Asian cities also continue to dominate the rankings as the costliest cities with Hong Kong in third place, followed by Singapore. Zurich jumped three places to rank 5th, followed by Geneva in 6th. Tokyo dropped four spots to rank 7th.
The survey covers 211 cities across five continents and measures the comparative cost of over 200 items in each location including housing, transportation, food, clothing, household goods and entertainment.
“Rankings in many regions were affected by recent world events, including economic and political upheavals, which resulted in currency fluctuations, cost inflation for goods and services, and volatility in accommodation prices,” said Ed Hannibal, partner and global leader for Mercer’s Mobility practice.
“While Luanda and N’Djamena are relatively inexpensive cities, they are quite costly for expatriates since imported goods come at a premium. In addition, finding secure living accommodations that meet the standards of expatriates can be challenging and quite costly as well. This is generally why some African cities rank high in our survey."
More cities appearing in the top 10 of Mercer’s costliest cities for expatriates are Bern, Moscow, and Shanghai. Karachi, ranked 211, is the world’s least expensive city for expatriates, and the survey found that Luanda is more than three times as costly as Karachi.