| The US has become less expensive for | | | | 6. Quito, Ecuador (53.23) |
| expatriates relative to cities in Asia | | | | 7. Buenos Aires, Argentina (53.25) |
| and Africa over the past year, says a | | | | 8. La Paz, Bolivia (53.54) |
| cost of living comparison of 228 global | | | | 9. Asmara, Eritrea (54.49) |
| cities. | | | | 10.Tashkent, Uzbekistan (56.06) |
| The cost of living comparison prices | | | | This means that overall, goods or |
| goods and services that expatriates | | | | services that cost USD$100 in New York, |
| spend their salaries on, and reports | | | | cost the equivalent of just USD$16.44 in |
| indexes for 13 different basket groups | | | | Harare, and USD$53.54 in La Paz. |
| using New York (100) as the base. | | | | The cost of living varies from one |
| In terms of overall cost of living, New | | | | location to another and by type of |
| York is now the 28th most expensive | | | | expense, mainly due to local supply and |
| global city and the 61st in terms of | | | | demand variations in each location. In |
| groceries. New York has dropped | | | | some cities, groceries are more costly |
| primarily due to the weakness of the US | | | | while accommodation is relatively less |
| Dollar as well as the economic slowdown | | | | costly and vice versa. |
| which appears to have slowed the | | | | In terms of groceries Seoul is the most |
| increase in prices relative to other | | | | expensive. Africa however has 6 of the |
| global cities. | | | | 10 most expensive cities, Brazzaville, |
| The global cost of living comparison | | | | Accra, Lagos, Abidjan, Kinshasa, and |
| conducted by shows London is the most | | | | Luanda. |
| expensive global location for | | | | Grocery Cost of Living Comparison - Top |
| expatriates, while 3 of the top 5 most | | | | 10 |
| expensive cities are in Asia, with | | | | The top 10 (most expensive) global |
| Tokyo, Seoul, and Hong Kong ranked 2nd, | | | | cities for expatriates to live using the |
| 3rd, and 5th respectively in terms of | | | | price of groceries as at March 2008 are |
| overall cost of living. | | | | as follows: |
| Overall Cost of Living Comparison - Top | | | | 1. Seoul, Republic of Korea |
| 10 | | | | 2. Brazzaville, Congo |
| The 10 most expensive global cities for | | | | 3. Ashgabat Turkmenistan |
| expatriates to live, based on overall | | | | 4. Accra, Ghana |
| cost of living (Index is in brackets) as | | | | 5. Lagos, Nigeria |
| at March 2008 are: | | | | 6. Copenhagen, Denmark |
| 1. London, United Kingdom (126.63) | | | | 7. Abidjan, Cote D'Ivoire |
| 2. Tokyo, Japan (121.88) | | | | 8. Kinshasa Congo Democratic Rep |
| 3. Seoul, Republic of Korea (119.54) | | | | 9. Luanda, Angola |
| 4. Oslo, Norway (115.39) | | | | 10.Oslo, Norway |
| 5. Hong Kong, China (113.00) | | | | When establishing a salary for a global |
| 6. Copenhagen, Denmark (112.63) | | | | assignment it is essential that the |
| 7. Moscow, Russia (110.35) | | | | items the expatriate will actually spend |
| 8. Geneva, Switzerland (110.06) | | | | their salary on are included in the cost |
| 9. Hamilton, Bermuda (109.63) | | | | of living calculation. Similarly the |
| 10.Luanda, Angola (108.51) | | | | items that are provided for the |
| This means that overall goods or | | | | expatriate should be excluded from the |
| services that cost USD$100 in New York, | | | | cost of living calculation. If the |
| cost the equivalent of USD$126.63 in | | | | incorrect items are included or |
| London, and USD$108.51 in Luanda. | | | | excluded, large variations in the |
| Overall Cost of Living Comparison - | | | | calculation of cost of living are |
| Bottom 10 | | | | likely. As an example London is ranked |
| The bottom 10 (least expensive) cities | | | | as the most expensive global location in |
| for expatriates to live, based on | | | | terms of overall cost of living, but is |
| overall cost of living (Index is in | | | | only ranked 26th most expensive location |
| brackets) as at March 2008 are: | | | | for groceries. |
| 1. Harare, Zimbabwe (16.44) | | | | Africa and Asia are becoming relatively |
| 2. Phnom Penh, Cambodia (44.89) | | | | more expensive than other global cities |
| 3. Sanaa, Yemen (44.95) | | | | after lagging for decades; organisations |
| 4. Dushanbe, Tajikistan (51.24) | | | | need to factor this into expatriate pay |
| 5. Tripoli, Libya (53.22) | | | | calculations for global assignments. |