Paris scales while Japan cities fall in the 2018 Worldwide Cost of Living Survey.
The title for being the world’s most expensive city is fought between Asia and Europe.
most expensive cities.
Findings in the latest Worldwide Cost of Living Survey, elaborated by The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), showed Paris took a big leap in the list while Singapore remained number one for the fifth consecutive year.
Tokyo and Osaka, both Japanese cities, fell out of the top-ten due to low inflation. Tokyo, the 2013 most expensive city, has fallen 12 spots in the last 12 months; Seoul, on the other half, South Korea´s most popular metropoli, moved from 21st to the top-five in ten years.
Tel Aviv sits at number nine, as transport, alcohol and other specific costs boomed the regions’ cost of living. It is the only Middle Eastern representative in the list.
The weakening dollar hits U.S. cities
The weakening U.S. dollar has moved New York four places down to the 13th spot, as domestic help and utility prices have peaked, elevating the monthly cost for a single person to 1,232 USD, according to Numbeo.
According to Market Watch, the best explanation for dollar weakness is that Trump has failed to deliver what he promised.
Another explanation is that investors expected the real exchange rate to rise through inflation rather than currency appreciation. Uncertainty is the order of the day, every day.
As for western Europe, according to the EIU report, it is the non-euro area cities that remain the most expensive, as Zurich (2nd), Oslo (5th), Geneva (6th) and Copenhagen (8th) are among the ten priciest. West European cities account for three of the five most expensive cities and for one-half of the top-ten, while Asia brings four candidates to the list.
The global cost of living has risen to 74%, up slightly from 73% last year. This remains significantly lower than five years ago, when the average cost of living index across the cities surveyed was 85.5%.
Click here to see the findings of the 2017 report.
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