As we should all be aware by now, earning a high paycheck doesn’t always mean that we’ll be able to enjoy a high quality of life nor a high purchasing power. The cost of life varies a lot from country to country and from city to city, a reality that might seem strange for someone who has never experienced living abroad.
There are important factors that we should have in mind before we try to compare the quality of living between two different countries/cities. One of them is necessarily the different tax loads in practice that affect all gross salaries. Once we get to the average net earnings from a regular worker, we should be able to figure out that person’s real purchasing power by computing into the equation of the cost of life in a given country/city.
Numerous variables come into play when assessing the cost of life in a city. From property prices, to rent costs, health care expenditures, food, gas and other utilities prices, there’s definitely a lot to consider. With that in mind, it comes easy to understand why most cost-of-life metrics rely on a weighted average of prices known as the “Consumer Price Index” (CPI).
This ranking of the most expensive cities to live in surprisingly features Singapore on the top, immediately followed by 3 European cities: Paris, Oslo and Zurich. The previous costliest city in the World, Tokyo (Japan), has finally got dethroned and has fallen to the 9th place on the list. None of the United States cities made it to this top 10 ranking, even though Australia had both Sydney and Melbourne ranked as 5th and 8th respectively.
Curiously, we’ve recently went through a study where we made note of the highest paying countries in the World. This time, we’ll narrow our scope and invert the study focus into the expenditure side rather than the revenues/earnings one can get. Without further delay and based on the data provided by the “Economist Intelligence Unit” (www.eiu.com), let’s get into this top 10 ranking for the most expensive cities in the World, in 2014.
The 10 costliest cities to live in – 2014:
The 10 most expensive cities to live in, 2014:
#1 – Singapore
Country: Singapore
Continent: Asia
Previous rank: #6
#2 – Paris
Country: France
Continent: Europe
Previous rank: #8
#3 – Oslo
Country: Norway
Continent: Europe
Previous rank: #4
#4 – Zurich
Country: Switzerland
Continent: Europe
Previous rank: #7
#5 – Sydney
Country: Australia
Continent: Australia
Previous rank: #3
#6 – Caracas
Country: Venezuela
Continent: South America
Previous rank: #9
#7 – Geneva
Country: Switzerland
Continent: Europe
Previous rank: #11
#8 – Melbourne
Country: Australia
Continent: Australia
Previous rank: #4
#9 – Tokyo
Country: Japan
Continent: Asia
Previous rank: #1
#10 – Copenhagen
Country: Denmark
Continent: Europe
Previous rank: #5
Sources: expansion.com / theguardian.com / telegraph.co.uk
Related Posts
« Highest paying countries in the World, in 2014 Bill Gates is no longer the single largest shareholder of Microsoft »