Singapore and Zurich Jointly Top the List of World’s Most Expensive Cities for 2023
In the latest Worldwide Cost of Living survey by The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), Singapore and Zurich have tied for the top spot, marking the second consecutive year that Singapore has held the position of the world’s most expensive city to live in. This is also the ninth time in the past eleven years that Singapore has secured the top spot.
The survey, which compares more than 400 individual prices across 200 products and services in 173 cities, has been carried out for over 30 years. The data is collected twice a year by the EIU’s researchers, who survey a range of stores and service providers to gather the price data, which is not the recommended retail prices or manufacturers’ costs but the actual costs charged.
Here are the top 10 most expensive places to live in the world according to the survey:
- Singapore (joint 1st)
- Zurich, Switzerland (joint 1st)
- Geneva, Switzerland
- New York City, USA
- Hong Kong
- Los Angeles, USA
- Paris, France
- Copenhagen, Denmark
- Tel Aviv, Israel
- San Francisco, USA
In the 2022 version of the survey, Singapore was joint top with New York, while Tel Aviv, Hong Kong, and Los Angeles made up the top five. In 2021, Singapore was ranked joint second with Paris, with Tel Aviv taking the top spot as the world’s most expensive city to live in. Zurich and Hong Kong completed the top five list for that year.
The survey found that on average, prices increased by 7.4% yearly in local currency terms, which is a slowdown from the 8.1% reported in the 2022 version of the survey but remains significantly above the trend from 2017 to 2021.
The EIU’s Worldwide Cost of Living survey is an essential tool for multinational corporations and governments to calculate cost-of-living allowances and make other adjustments for expatriate employees. It also helps businesses and organizations to understand the comparative cost of living and doing business in different cities around the world.
In conclusion, Singapore and Zurich are the world’s most expensive cities to live in for 2023, marking the second consecutive year that Singapore has held the top spot. The survey highlights the importance of considering the cost of living when making decisions about where to live and work, and it provides valuable insights for businesses and organizations to understand the comparative cost of living and doing business in different cities around the world.