Hong Kong World’s Most Expensive City for Expatriates

Hong Kong has been emerged as the world’s most expensive city for expatriates to live in. An annual report by global consultancy firm Mercer has placed Hong Kong at the top of the list comprising most expensive cities for expatriates in the world. Mercer has carried out the survey in 209 cities on the cost of scores of items in each destination, including housing, food and entertainment.

Mercer found that an unfurnished two-bedroom apartment in a decent neighborhood of Hong Kong rented for over $6,800 a month as against $4,600 in London and just $4,000 in Tokyo. A cup of coffee cost nearly $8 in Hong Kong and this is twice as much as London ($4.40) and Tokyo ($4.00) respectively.

Making up the rest of the world’s top five costliest places to live were the Angolan capital Luanda, Switzerland’s Zurich and Hong Kong’s fellow Asian metropolises Singapore and Tokyo, according to Mercer’s survey.

Making up the rest of the world’s top five costliest places to live were the Angolan capital Luanda, Switzerland’s Zurich and Hong Kong’s fellow Asian metropolises Singapore and Tokyo, according to Mercer’s survey.

They were followed by Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, which broke into the top 10 for the first time. Shanghai, Geneva, Chad’s capital N’Djamena and Beijing completed the upper tier.

Contrary to the survey, Hong Kong, a semiautonomous Chinese territory, was also deemed the world’s least affordable city in a survey in January.