Moscow Most Expensive City for Expats

Moscow remains the most expensive city in the world for expatriate staff, according to a survey by British human resources firm Mercer HR.

The findings use the United States’ most expensive city, New York, as a benchmark and compare the cost in 143 cities of more than 200 items, like housing, transport, food, clothing, household goods and entertainment.

European cities featured prominently in the top 10: London leapt three places from fifth to second. Copenhagen was the sixth most expensive, Geneva seventh, Zurich ninth and Oslo 10th. Others more expensive than New York were Milan; Saint Petersburg and Paris

In turn, US cities and those in countries whose currency is pegged to the dollar, fell down the list.

United States
New York remained the most expensive city in North America in position 15. Only New York and Los Angeles (42) rank in the top 50 cities.

Canada
Toronto was the most expensive city in Canada in position 82. Calgary and Vancouver tumbled down the rankings, sliding from 71st place to 92nd and 56th to 89th respectively. Ottawa remained the cheapest Canadian city in 109th position. Canadian cities have traditionally rated favourably in the world-wide ranking. The new scores reflect a low rate of inflation and stable housing prices. In addition, while it has appreciated slightly against the US Dollar, the Canadian Dollar has depreciated nearly 13% against the Euro since last year’s survey.

Australasia
Wellington is the least costly city in this region in 111th place. Auckland climbs one place to rank 99th. Expatriates in Australia continue to face higher living costs than their counterparts in New Zealand. Sydney remained the most expensive city in Australia at position 21. Melbourne occupied position 60, up 14 places from last year. Adelaide was in 96th place.

Cost of Living Survey
Worldwide Ranking 2007