Not the high-rise metropolis of New York, nor the celebrity-soaked Los Angeles or even the cultural crossroads of London. No, the most expensive city in the world for expatriates is Hong Kong, according to Mercer’s Cost of Living Survey, released on June 26.
Hong Kong’s dominance of Mercer’s annual ranking for the second year running is all the more surprising given the protests that have rocked the special administrative region over the past few months.
But this makes it all the more expensive for expatriates to live in according to Mercer, which measures each city by the cost of a “basket of goods” such as sliced white bread and men’s blue jeans.
Previous entries in the top 10 have hardly been havens of calm. They include N’Djamena in Chad, Luanda in Angola and Ashgabat in Turkmenistan, which ranks seventh this year.