The consulting firm Mercer has published the latest edition of its annual cost of living survey for expats living in major cities around the world. Hong Kong remains at the top of the list of the results list, although there are also some changes compared to previous years. And what about Italy's most expensive cities? Let's have a look at the results.
The top 20 has seen some changes: Ashgabat (Turkmenistan's capital city) has overtaken Tokyo in the rankings and has risen to second place, leaving the Japanese capital in third place, followed by Zurich (Switzerland), Singapore (Singapore), New York (USA), Shanghai (China), Bern (Switzerland), Geneva (Switzerland) and Beijing (China). Perhaps unsurprisingly, almost two thirds of the top 10 is occupied by Asian cities, then followed by Seoul (South Korea), Tel Aviv (Israel), Shenzen (China), London (UK), San Francisco and Los Angeles (USA).
The first Italian city in the ranking, and taking the title of Italy's most expensive city, is Milan found in 47th place. Milan has dropped by 2 positions compared to 2019, maintaining its spot in the top 50 and also coming ahead of other major cities such as Paris. The other Italian city making the list is Rome, which, compared to a year ago, has dropped 10 positions and is in 65th place, just after Amsterdam. The cheapest cities in this edition are Tunis (Tunisia), Windhoek (Namibia), Tashkent (Uzbekistan) and Biskek (Kyrgyzstan).
In order to produce this annual ranking, Mercer carries out an analysis of prices of a large range of products and services, including housing, public transport, food, clothing, household items and entertainment. The aim of this annual survey, as explained by the company, is to help multinationals and governments determine compensation strategies for their expatriate or foreign employees. New York is used as the benchmark city for all comparisons and are measured against the US dollar, and this year's survey includes 209 cities from all over the world.
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