Cities with High Cost of Living

Shanghai now more expensive than New York

Among other findings from the Economist Intelligence Unit's latest Worldwide Cost of Living report: bread in Moscow is three times costlier than in London

7 July, 2011

Tokyo is still the world’s most expensive city to live in and Oslo and Osaka still make the top five, but the Worldwide Cost of Living 2011 survey just released from the Economist Intelligence Unit also revealed some dramatic changes in the last year.

Australia has become one of the biggest risers, with the strong Aussie dollar lifting costs in Sydney (6th most expensive city), Melbourne (7^th), Perth (13^th) and Brisbane (14^th) to their highest levels.

Europe accounts for half the top 50 most expensive cities, with Paris in fourth spot, Zurich in fifth and Frankfurt and Geneva in eighth and ninth. 

The survey shows how economies have shifted over the past 10 years, with especially Asian cities becoming cheaper. Hong Kong, from third place 10 years ago is now 22^nd, Shanghai falls from 16^th to 48^th and Beijing falls from 11^th to 64^th.

Some Asian countries whose economies have shifted up the gears have bucked this trend however. Bangkok, the 108^th most expensive city in 2001 is now the 66^th. Jakarta moves up 35 spots from 2001 to 77^th.

American cities have also generally moved down the rankings, with New York only just squeaking into the top 50, in 49th spot. New York is now cheaper than Chicago and Los Angeles while Atlanta, the United States' cheapest city, is on a par with Kiev in Ukraine. 

“Although inflation in Japan has been stagnant for a long time, the rapid strengthening of the Yen in recent years has fuelled the relative cost of living in Japanese cities," says Jon Copestake, editor of the Worldwide Cost of Living survey. "This trend is also evidenced by the contrary movement of other Asian cities. Hong Kong and China, which peg their currencies to the US dollar, have seen the relative cost of living fall as the US dollar has declined from highs of 2001.

“That said, many of these cities have seen local inflation rising and it is interesting to note that Shanghai has now become a more expensive location than New York and Washington DC in the United States."

Read more: Shanghai now more expensive than New York | CNNGo.com http://www.cnngo.com/explorations/life/shanghai-now-more-expensive-new-york-307238#ixzz1RTnRQmvG