Moscow is the world’s most expensive city for expatriates for the third consecutive year, according to the latest Cost of Living Survey from Mercer.
Mercer’s survey is arguably the world’s most comprehensive cost of living survey and is used to help multinational companies and governments determine compensation allowances for their expatriate employees.
The survery covers 143 cities across six continents and measures the comparative cost of over 200 items in each location, including housing, transport, food, clothing, household goods and entertainment.
Top 10 most expensive cities in 2008
Moscow (Russia), Tokyo (Japan), London (UK), Oslo (Norway), Seoul (South Korea), Hong Kong (China), Copenhagen (Denmark), Geneva (Switzerland), Zurich (Switzerland) and Milan (Italy).
Surprisingly US have only one city in the top 50 (New York at 22nd)… and Canada don’t even make it into top 50. Perhaps we should migrate to that region instead lol.
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I am from Moscow .
Yein Jee hates white people .
i will not argue with that “idiot ” , because its pointless anyway .
I do live better than you ”Yein Jee ” .
I am good looking ,and rich . And who are you ??
Answer , you’re no body .
I still visit your site ,because its good . But you’re are bad person .
I will not stalk you or harass you ,but i will say this . You are nobody …you hear me ?
If you don’t hear ? too bad ,maybe you’re deaf .
Don’t get angry or upset ,because you know i am better than you anyway .
Idiot ..
^^what’s with the nasty comment above? ^^
if you have nothing good to say, then just don’t say anything.
anyways this is about the only reason i like living in houston. everything here is cheap, but it’s too hot.
Frankly, the only things I know about Houston are Rockets… both the NASA rockets and NBA rockets lol.
Canada is a beautiful place indeed. Big, lots of nature, trees, mountains, wildlife etc And yes YeinJee, it’d be great if we could all migrate there, but then if eveyone went there it might not remain a beautiful place anymore. ;) All that good stuff would start to disappear and buildings, highways, cars, apartments, pollution, and trash, would start to take over. It’s just a thought. Anytime too many people are in one place problems arise eventually. The world is too populated imo. But nothing can be done about that though, except make the best of it.
Don’t forget Yao Ming and the Houston Rockets.
Have read lots of good stuffs about Canada… I believe it’s a beautiful country indeed. Was just joking about migrating there though… I still love my country :p
Ya, Yao Ming and the Houston Rockets (the NBA rockets I mentioned above)… btw, I wonder if Yao Ming is really popular in US? Asians love him obviously, but I’m curious if the Americans are sharing the same passion for him as well.
Yes, Yao Ming is very popular in the US. Also I was joking about the migration to Canada, however there is a bit of truth about it in regards to what population explosions have done in other places before. Who knows, Canada may very well be a next destination for huge migration. You never know. Incidently there are alot of Asians who have chosen to move to places like Quebec (sp?). It’s such a beautiful country Canada. Someday I want to go visit. I have a Chinese Canadian friend who speaks the Canadian dialect of French. He says there’s a lot of Asian people in canada whose families moved there years ago.
moscow at number 1.. that sounds like trouble. other cities on top 10 are mostly rich countries, but russia is still not doing good is it?
i’m surprised new york isnt further up(down?) on the list cuz its hella expensive trying to rent anything in manhattan, let alone downtown. plus hotdogs are like $3 now..hella expensive i tell ya.
Anon#7… there were an influx of Asian immigrants in the 90s, particular from Hong Kong before China taking it back from British administration in 1997. There are still lots of foreigners who are applying for citizenship or PR of Canada… just that they seem stricter in granting the application these days.
kyon… ya, I don’t think Russia is doing that well yet, but those in the city might be doing ok. China for example have a few cities in the top 50… people in HK, Beijing and Shanghai might be doing well but the rurals area might not. Long story about that, I shall stop here.
Lily… yupe, that surprised me too.
Lily – I think it’s because the (U.S.) dollar is weak.
lol, i’m born in canada and have lived here since then (just 18 years haha!).
but i never felt that living here is so cheap.
i guess i should start appreciating this fact!
you guys are right that canada is a nice country.
generally speaking, canadians are peaceful and polite.
the air here is pretty clean compared to many other countries.
but after living in canada for so long, i have to tell you guys that this country is rather boring, especially when you compare it to the lively asian countries.
i feel that there aren’t enough cool attractions here and there’s also no night life.
i don’t mean literally zero night life, but it’s still so far away from asian places.
and also, there are already so many chinese immigrants here.
my family is chinese and i think the street where i live in, more than half of the families are chinese. that sounds like a lot, but i guess it’s because the area i live in is like a chiantown where a lot of chinese people gather.
still, i think if more chinese people immigrate here, the official languages in canada would have to change from english and french to english and chinese.
it’s fine for me because i like being around chinese people.
but some people, like my parents, think that too much chinese people makes it harder for chinese students to adapt to the english surrounding.
i didn’t realize that hk is so expensive.
i should reconsider about moving there after university, haha!
and wow, tokyo is second.
but i still want to have a nice vacation there when i earn enough money =]
sorry for talking so much about canada, lol.
bb, appreciate your canada. I know it’s tempting to want a more exciting surroundings but after you have a taste of living in a big, dirty, crime ridden city for many years with too many cars, too many people and rude loud angry people on top of that, you’ll wish for that peaceful quiet “boring” life again. Although I have to admit that some people love big loud dirty places with gobs and gobs of people all over the place. I personally don’t. I prefer medium size with peaceful surroundings and clean. But That’s getting hard to find.
Well, different people would have different preference in living. I prefer quiet places as well… but at the moment, I would love to see different kind of culture and experience different lifestyle… so, let’s travel :)
bb, why hong kong? try taiwan, similar but cheaper :p
anon#13, i am appreciating where i live. but i think i will appreciate canada even more at a later age. as i am still young right now, i am more fond of the exciting lifestyle in asian countries. i think this preference will change at a point in life though. that’s why older people like my parents love it here. i enjoy quietness and personal space too. i just think that my age right now is the time when i should be more active and enjoying what a lively city offers. actually, where i live in canada (toronto) has a lot of cars and crimes too. cities in canada aren’t as rural as people describe. they’re very big cities too and you can find rude people as well. anyhow, canada is a good place to live in, especially when you have kids or after retirement.
kyon, lol, true, taiwan is cheaper compared to hk. but i am more fluent in cantonese than in mandarin. i like taiwan too, but i guess it would be more convenient for me to live in hk? plus, i have friends in hk, but i don’t know anyone in taiwan. =]
I have been to both Hong Kong and Taiwan… to be frank they are not really that similar. Not sure how to explain it, besides the Chinese culture background… the way of living is quite different. Taiwan is indeed much cheaper than Hong Kong in most cases.
hey yein jee your such a bruha,,,,,and kafal ng mukha you….gosh feeling ka ha!!!!!!!
maduling ka sana……..