A study by Swiss bank UBS has shown that London, Oslo, Dublin, Copenhagen and New York are currently the world’s most expensive cities. Since the bank conducted its last comprehensive global survey of prices and earnings, in early 2006, there has been a dramatic shift in the relative values of currencies. And as exchange rates fluctuate, so do relative price levels around the world.
London, Oslo, Dublin, Copenhagen and New York are the world’s five most expensive cities. A study by Swiss bank UBS shows that life is particularly expensive in these cities if the cost of housing is included. In fact, the cost of living in London is now 26% higher. Furthermore, Euro-zone cities are even more expensive. In 2006, Barcelona and Hong Kong were similarly costly. Now, the capital of Catalonia is 22% more expensive than its Chinese counterpart.
However, much of the cost rises in Europe are down to the survey’s methodology. The research uses the US dollar as its common currency, which means that, even without any inflationary price rises, a weakening dollar will make European cities more expensive. Therefore, the US dollar’s sharp depreciation – at the time of the research, down almost 18% against the euro since the last survey in 2006 – has made New York a much more affordable place for European shoppers.
At the other end of the scale, the cheapest cities are in South Asia and South America, Buenos Aires being nearly as cheap as Mumbai, where the depreciation of the Indian rupee now makes it an attractive tourist destination.
Basket of goods and salaries
The basket of goods and services costs the least in Kuala Lumpur, Buenos Aires and Lima. European cities dominate the earnings tables, with the highest net incomes being earned in Zurich, Dublin, Oslo, Geneva and Luxembourg. And whereas New York is the non-European city with the highest earners, workers in Manila, Delhi and Jakarta have the lowest income in the world.
