Malaysia’s southerly neighbour Singapore is still the world’s most expensive city, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU)’s 2016 Worldwide Cost of Living survey.
This is the city’s third year in a row at the top, but the gap is closing between Singapore and Zurich (Switzerland) and Hong Kong in joint second place. Hong Kong actually moved up seven places in a year, and London, New York and Los Angeles moved up to sixth, seventh and eight place. Kuala Lumpur remains in the top 100.
The annual report, which ranks 133 cities based on a twice-yearly survey, notes Singapore’s high transport costs:
“It is the most expensive place in the world to buy and run a car, thanks to Singapore’s complex Certificate of Entitlement system, and transportation costs in Singapore are 2.7 times higher than in New York.”
– Economist Intelligence Unit
However, for basic groceries, the report notes that Singapore is cheaper than other Asian cities such as South Korea’s capital Seoul (which is 33% more expensive), Hong Kong (28%) and Tokyo (26%), concluding that value for money can be found by those who seek it.
The Economist Intelligence Unit compares more than 400 prices in 133 cities, including food, drink, clothes, rent, transport, utilities, schools and recreation. It aims to avoid bias toward the spending pattern of any specific nationality and a comparative index is produced using the relative difference by items weighted across a range of categories.
Top 10 most expensive cities, 2016
1. Singapore
2-. Zurich (Switzerland)
2-. Hong Kong
4. Geneva (Switzerland)
5. Paris (France)
6. London (UK)
7. New York (US)
8-. Copenhagen (Denmark)
8-. Seoul (South Korea)
8-. Los Angeles (US)
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