The world's most expensive cities: Hong Kong and Asian metropolises dominate top 10
- Hong Kong was named the most expensive city for expatriate employees
- It topped Mercer's annual cost of living survey, which looked at 209 cities
- The survey revealed six of the world's top 10 most expensive cities are in Asia
- At the bottom of the ranking - unsurprisingly - were developing, unsafe and war-torn cities
Hong Kong is the world's most expensive city to live in for expatriate employees, a study has revealed.
It topped Mercer's 2018 annual cost of living survey, which looked at 209 cities, reclaiming the title from Angola's oil-rich capital Luanda, which dropped to sixth place.
Six of the world's top 10 most expensive cities are in Asia, with Tokyo deemed to be the second dearest city for expats.
Hong Kong (pictured) is the world's most expensive city to live in for expatriate employees, a study has revealed
Zurich and Singapore, up one place from last year, are in third and fourth positions with South Korean capital Seoul rounding out the top five.
Other Asian cities taking spots in the top 10 include Shanghai and Beijing.
Ndjamena, the capital of Chad, is the only African county to make the top 10 at eight place, climbing up from 15th place last year.
On the other end of the spectrum, developing, unsafe and war-torn cities sit at the bottom of the list.
The world's least expensive cities for expats are Tashkent in Uzbekistan in 209th place, the Tunisian capital of Tunis at 208th and Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, at 207th.
Also in the bottom 10 is Karachi in Pakistan, Banjul in Gambia, Blantyre in Malawi and Managua in Nicaragua.
The cost of living in UK cities rose significantly, according to this year's survey.
London jumped up 10 places from last year, from 29 to 19.
Birmingham, placed at 128, has risen 19 places and Aberdeen, in 134th position, has risen 12 places in this year's ranking.
'UK cities' rise in this year's ranking is mainly due to a strengthening of the pound against the US dollar,' Kate Fitzpatrick, Mercer's global mobility practice leader for the UK & Ireland, said.
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But she added that a fall in rental accommodation prices in London had helped to hold back the city's rise through the rankings.
Glasgow was placed 148th in this year's study while Belfast is at number 152.
Hong Kong claimed the title from Angola's oil-rich capital Luanda (pictured), which dropped to sixth place
Mercer's survey is designed to help multinational companies and governments determine compensation strategies for their expatriate employees.
New York – which fell four places to rank at 13th this year - is used as the base city for all comparisons, and currency movements are measured against the US dollar.
The survey measures the comparative cost of more than 200 items in each location, including housing, transportation, food, clothing, household goods and entertainment.
Mercer said cities in the United States have fallen in the ranking due to a steady pickup of the European economy, which triggered a decline of the US dollar against other major currencies worldwide.
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