Khaldon Azhari

TOKYO: US consultant Mercer’s annual cost-of-living survey ranked Tokyo as the world’s 4th most expensive city for expats in 2021, down one place from last year.

In Japan, expensive urban living costs were by no means limited to its capital. Globally, Mercer ranked Osaka 23rd compared to 22nd place in 2020, and Nagoya was ranked 34th compared to 26th place in the cost of living.

Asia provided more than half of the ten most expensive cities identified by the survey.

Ashgabat, the capital of Turkmenistan, topped the list of the most expensive cities globally, followed by Hong Kong in second place from the first in 2020. At the same time, Shanghai ranked sixth, climbing one spot from last year, and Singapore fell two places to seventh place, while Beijing in China ranked ninth.

Switzerland cities, Zurich, Geneva, and Berne ranked fifth, eighth, and tenth, consequently taking three ranks in the most expensive cities.

Within the Arab world, Beirut topped the list. Lebanon’s political turmoil, economic difficulties caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, and its financial crisis made Beirut ranked third globally with a stunning rise of forty-two places, the largest ever recorded, according to the survey.

In Saudi Arabia, Riyadh ranked second in the Arab world (and twenty-ninth globally), while Jeddah occupied seventh place in the Arab world and ninety-fourth place globally.

Among the United Arab Emirates, Dubai ranked third in the Arab world (and forty-second globally), Abu Dhabi is fourth in the Arab world (and fifty-sixth globally), while Manama in Bahrain ranked fifth in the Arab world (and seventy-first globally).

Amman in Jordan ranked sixth in the Arab world (and ninety-fourth globally). At the same time, Muscat in the Sultanate of Oman was the eighth most expensive city in the Arab world (and one hundred-eighth place globally), followed by Casablanca in Morocco in the ninth place in the Arab world and (one hundred-fourth place globally).

The study, moreover, ranked Kuwait in tenth place in the Arab world and 115th place globally, followed by Doha, the capital of Qatar, in eleventh place in the Arab world, and one hundred thirtieth place globally. Cairo in Egypt ranked twelfth place in the Arab world (and one hundred and thirty-seventh globally), followed by the city of Rabat in Morocco, ranked thirteenth in the Arab world. Algeria was ranked fourteenth in the Arab world (and one hundred and ninety-eighth globally).

On the opposite end of the list, Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, was considered the least expensive city for expatriates to live in at 209th place, followed by Lusaka Zambia which ranked 208th place. Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia, ranked 207th place, and then Tunis in Tunisia, ranked 206th place, with Brasilia in Brazil ranked 205th.

The Mercer survey annually evaluates two hundred goods and services in two hundred and nine cities worldwide, including housing, transportation, dining, and entertainment. New York City, which ranked 14th in the world in cost of living in 2021, uses as a basis for comparison in addition to currency fluctuations measured against the US dollar, cost inflation, and the instability of accommodation prices in each country.