arcana imperii :: the book of j

the world's most expensive cities

tokyo, which has ranked as the world's most expensive city for the last four years, has lost this infamous distinction to moscow, where a two-bedroom flat would cost you US$3,000, a served cup of coffee 5,27, an international newspaper 3,40 and a burger and chips 3,87. ouch! a weakened yen places tokyo in third place just behind seoul.

london, meanwhile, still makes a pricey showing at number 5, making it the most expensive city in europe, followed by geneva, which ranks 7 worldwide.

here's the top twenty:

1. Moscow


2. Seoul


3. Tokyo


4. Hong Kong


5. London


6. Osaka


7. Geneva


8. Copenhagen


9. Zurich


10. Oslo


11. New York


12. St Petersburg


13. Milan


14. Peking


15. Istanbul


16. Paris


17. Singapore


18. Dublin


19. Sydney


20. Shanghai

the cost-of-living survey from mercer human resource consulting uses new york city, ranked number 10, as its cost base -- scoring it at 100. then it compares the prices of more than 200 items, including housing, household goods, food, entertainment and transport in 144 cities round the planet.

leipzigis europe's least costly city at number 123. sydney is australasia's most expensive city followed by melbourne and brisbane.

other high-ranking cities include los angeles in position 29, san francisco in 34th place and chicago in 38th position. washington, dc takes 83rd place. winston-salem is the cheapest US city surveyed, ranked 124th.

toronto is the most expensive city in canada and moves up from 82nd to 47th place. ottawa remains the least expensive canadian city but has climbed 32 places from 122nd to 90th.

são paulo and rio de janeiro are the most expensive cities in latin america moving up from 119th and 124th positions to 34th and 40th place respectively

asuncion in paraguay remains the least expensive city globally, in 144th position. other cheap cities include buenos aires, montevideo and caracas in 142nd place, 138th and 136th respectively.

interestingly, the US commonwealth of puerto rico has experienced rather high inflation during the last year making san juan the costliest city in the central american and Caribbean geographical regions in 55th position. san jose, costa rica is the least expensive in 134th place. santo domingo in the dominican republic is in 126th position dropping 27 places due to the depreciation of the dominican peso against the US dollar.