Moscow tops world's priciest cities
Honolulu ties for 64th out of 143 ranked cities worldwide
Staff and wire reports
As much as Honolulu's cost of living climbed in the past year, it is still well below the top 50 globally, a new survey reports.
MOST EXPENSIVE CITIES
The priciest cities in the world, according to the cost of items including housing, transportation, food, clothing, household goods and entertainment:
1. Moscow
2. London
3. Seoul, South Korea
4. Tokyo
5. Hong Kong
6. Copenhagen, Denmark
7. Geneva
8. Osaka, Japan
9. Zurich, Switzerland
10. Oslo, Norway
11. Milan, Italy
12. St. Petersburg, Russia
13. Paris
14. Singapore
15. New York
16. Dublin, Ireland
17. Tel Aviv, Israel
18. Rome
19. Vienna, Austria
20. Beijing
21. Sydney, Australia
22. Helsinki, Finland
23. Stockholm, Sweden
24. Douala, Cameroon
25. Amsterdam, Netherlands
64. Honolulu
Rio De Janeiro, Brazil
Melbourne, Australia
Source: Mercer Human Resource Consulting
|
The survey by Mercer Human Resource Consulting, a unit of
Marsh & McLennan Cos. Inc., ranked 143 cities around the world as of March 2007, found Moscow the world's most expensive city for the second year in a row, thanks to an appreciating ruble and rising housing costs.
The cost of living for expatriates in the Russian capital is nearly 35 percent higher than in New York, which served as the base city for the survey released yesterday.
Honolulu tied with Melbourne, Australia, and Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, for 64th this year, with a cost of living 82.5 percent of New York City's, the survey found.
In the 2006 survey Honolulu was 67th, at 80 percent of the New York benchmark. During that year, the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics found Honolulu's consumer price index increased 5.9 percent, versus a U.S. average of 3.2 percent.
London, estimated at 26 percent more expensive than New York, climbed three spots to second place on a strengthening British pound and steep rental prices.
South Korea's Seoul ranked third, 22.4 percent more expensive than New York, followed closely by Tokyo at No. 4, 22.1 percent more.
New York and Los Angeles were the only two North American cities to rank among the highest 50, though both fell in the rankings due to a depreciating U.S. dollar, Mercer reported.
The Big Apple dropped five places to No. 15, while Los Angeles fell to No. 42 from No. 29 in 2006.
Ranking as the least expensive city for the fifth year in a row was Paraguay's capital of Asuncion, where the cost of living is half that of New York, Mercer estimated.
The survey measured the comparative cost of more than 200 areas such as housing, transportation and food. The findings are designed to help multinational employers determine compensation for their expatriate workers.