Mercer, a human resources consulting firm, has published the 2019 ranking of the most expensive cities per the living cost of an expatriate. This ranking is based on the prices of 200 products and services such as housing, transportation and food products...
Atlas Magazine reviews this study by classifying the cities by continent.
Africa: the most expensive cities in 2019
| Regional ranking | Global ranking | City | Country |
|---|
| 1 | 11 | Ndjamena | Chad |
| 2 | 14 | Victoria | Seychelles |
| 3 | 22 | Kinshasa | D.R of Congo |
| 4 | 24 | Libreville | Gabon |
| 5 | 25 | Lagos | Nigeria |
| 6 | 26 | Luanda | Angola |
| 7 | 30 | Abidjan | Côte d'Ivoire |
| 8 | 39 | Brazzaville | Congo |
| 9 | 52 | Yaounde | Cameroon |
| 10 | 54 | Bangui | Central African Republic |
| 11 | 59 | Djibouti | Djibouti |
| 12 | 63 | Accra | Ghana |
| 13 | 66 | Douala | Cameroon |
| 14 | 72 | Dakar | Senegal |
| 15 | 85 | Abuja | Nigeria |
| 16 | 88 | Conakry | Guinea |
| 17 | 97 | Nairobi | Kenya |
| 18 | 124 | Bamako | Mali |
| 19 | 128 | Cotonou | Benin |
| 20 | 128 | Casablanca | Morocco |
| 21 | 145 | Lome | Togo |
| 22 | 145 | Ouagadougou | Burkina Faso |
| 23 | 149 | Niamey | Niger |
| 24 | 159 | Maputo | Mozambique |
| 25 | 160 | Rabat | Morocco |
| 26 | 161 | Port Louis | Mauritius |
| 27 | 166 | Cairo | Egypt |
| 28 | 169 | Santo Domingo | Dominican Rep |
| 29 | 171 | Dar Es Salaam | Tanzania |
| 30 | 171 | Addis Ababa | Ethiopia |
| 31 | 175 | Kigali | Rwanda |
| 32 | 180 | The cap | South Africa |
| 33 | 183 | Kampala | Uganda |
| 34 | 184 | Alger | Algeria |
| 35 | 185 | Johannesburg | South Africa |
| 36 | 188 | Harare | Zimbabwe |
| 37 | 189 | Gaborone | Botswana |
| 38 | 192 | Nouakchott | Mauritania |
| 39 | 193 | Blantyre | Malawi |
| 40 | 196 | Lusaka | Zambia |
| 41 | 204 | Windhoek | Namibia |
| 42 | 204 | Banjul | Gambia |
| 43 | 209 | Tunis | Tunisia |
Near and Middle East*: the most expensive cities in 2019
| Regional ranking | Global ranking | City | Country |
|---|
| 1 | 21 | Dubai | United Arab Emirates |
| 2 | 33 | Abu Dhabi | United Arab Emirates |
| 3 | 35 | Riyadh | Saudi Arabia |
| 4 | 53 | Beirut | Lebanon |
| 5 | 57 | Manama | Bahrain |
| 6 | 75 | Amman | Jordan |
| 7 | 100 | Jeddah | Saudi Arabia |
| 8 | 103 | Muscat | Oman |
| 9 | 115 | Doha | Qatar |
| 10 | 119 | Kuwait | Kuwait |
| 11 | 154 | Istanbul | Turkey |
* including Turkey
Europe: the most expensive cities in 2019
| Regional ranking | Global ranking | City | Country |
|---|
| 1 | 5 | Zurich | Swiss |
| 2 | 12 | Bern | Swiss |
| 3 | 13 | Geneva | Swiss |
| 4 | 20 | Copenhagen | Denmark |
| 5 | 23 | London | United Kingdom |
| 6 | 27 | Moscow | Russia |
| 7 | 43 | Dublin | Ireland |
| 8 | 45 | Milan | Italy |
| 9 | 47 | Paris | France |
| 10 | 51 | Vienna | Austria |
| 11 | 55 | Rome | Italy |
| 12 | 58 | Amsterdam | Netherlands |
| 13 | 61 | Oslo | Norway |
| 14 | 65 | Helsinki | Finland |
| 15 | 67 | Munich | Germany |
| 16 | 74 | Frankfurt | Germany |
| 17 | 75 | St. Petersburg | Russia |
| 18 | 77 | Brussels | Belgium |
| 19 | 81 | Berlin | Germany |
| 20 | 82 | Madrid | Spain |
| 21 | 84 | Luxembourg | luxembourg |
| 22 | 91 | Barcelona | Spain |
| 23 | 92 | Düsseldorf | Germany |
| 24 | 95 | Lisbon | Portugal |
| 25 | 97 | Prague | Rep. Czech |
| 26 | 100 | Hamburg | Germany |
| 27 | 111 | Riga | Latvia |
| 28 | 114 | Wellington | New Zealand |
| 29 | 123 | Lyon | France |
| 30 | 125 | Pointe à Pitre | France |
| 31 | 126 | Stuttgart | Germany |
| 32 | 127 | Stockholm | Sweden |
| 33 | 128 | Athens | Greece |
| 34 | 131 | Bratislava | Slovakia |
| 35 | 135 | Birmingham | United Kingdom |
| 36 | 137 | Aberdeen | United Kingdom |
| 37 | 140 | Tallinn | Estonia |
| 38 | 142 | Ljubljana | Slovenia |
| 39 | 143 | Zagreb | Croatia |
| 40 | 145 | Glasgow | United Kingdom |
| 41 | 150 | Kiev | Ukraine |
| 42 | 151 | Nuremberg | Germany |
| 43 | 152 | Vilnius | Lithuania |
| 44 | 156 | Leipzig | Germany |
| 45 | 158 | Belfast | United Kingdom |
| 46 | 161 | Limassol | Cyprus |
| 47 | 164 | Budapest | Hungary |
| 48 | 166 | Tirana | Albania |
| 49 | 173 | Warsaw | Poland |
| 50 | 176 | Bucharest | Romania |
| 51 | 177 | Sofia | Bulgaria |
| 52 | 181 | Belgrade | Serbia |
| 53 | 194 | Sarajevo | Bosnia and Herzegovina |
| 54 | 198 | Minsk | Belarus |
| 55 | 201 | Skopje | Macedonia |
| 56 | 202 | Tbilisi | Georgia |
Asia: the most expensive cities in 2019
| Regional ranking | Global ranking | City | Country |
|---|
| 1 | 1 | Hong Kong | Hong Kong |
| 2 | 2 | Tokyo | Japan |
| 3 | 3 | Singapore | Singapore |
| 4 | 4 | Seoul | South Korea |
| 5 | 6 | Shanghai | China |
| 6 | 7 | Ashgabat | Turkmenistan |
| 7 | 8 | Beijing | China |
| 8 | 10 | Shenzhen | China |
| 9 | 17 | Guangzhou | China |
| 10 | 19 | Osaka | Japan |
| 11 | 27 | Nanjing | China |
| 12 | 30 | Chengdu | China |
| 13 | 32 | Tianjin | China |
| 14 | 33 | Nagoya | Japan |
| 15 | 35 | Taipei | Taiwan |
| 16 | 40 | Bangkok | Thailand |
| 17 | 41 | Qingdao | China |
| 18 | 45 | Shenyang | China |
| 19 | 47 | Dhaka | Bangladesh |
| 20 | 67 | Mumbai | India |
| 21 | 79 | Melbourne | Australia |
| 22 | 102 | Bandar Seri Begawan | Brunei |
| 23 | 105 | Jakarta | Indonesia |
| 24 | 108 | Phnom Penh | Cambodia |
| 25 | 109 | Manila | Philippines |
| 26 | 112 | Hanoi | Vietnam |
| 27 | 117 | Yangon | Myanmar |
| 28 | 118 | New Delhi | India |
| 29 | 120 | Ho Chi Minh City | Vietnam |
| 30 | 141 | Kuala Lumpur | Malaysia |
| 31 | 154 | Chennai | India |
| 32 | 178 | Baku | Azerbaijan |
| 33 | 179 | Bangalore | India |
| 34 | 182 | Colombo | Sri Lanka |
| 35 | 189 | Calcutta | India |
| 36 | 191 | Almaty | kazakhstan |
| 37 | 197 | Yerevan | Armenia |
| 38 | 203 | Islamabad | Pakistan |
| 39 | 206 | Bishkek | kyrgyzstan |
| 40 | 207 | Karachi | Pakistan |
| 41 | 208 | Tashkent | Uzbekistan |
Americas*: the most expensive cities in 2019
| Regional ranking | Global ranking | City | Country |
|---|
| 1 | 9 | New York
| United States |
| 2 | 16 | San Francisco | United States |
| 3 | 18 | Los Angeles | United States |
| 4 | 37 | Chicago | United States |
| 5 | 38 | Honolulu | United States |
| 6 | 42 | Washington | United States |
| 7 | 44 | Miami | United States |
| 8 | 49 | Boston | United States |
| 9 | 56 | White Plains | United States |
| 10 | 59 | Houston | United States |
| 11 | 62 | Dallas | United States |
| 12 | 64 | Seattle | United States |
| 13 | 69 | Atlanta | United States |
| 14 | 70 | Montevideo | Uruguay |
| 15 | 70 | Morristown | United States |
| 16 | 72 | San Juan | Porto Rico |
| 17 | 78 | Minneapolis | United States |
| 18 | 79 | Santiago | Chile |
| 19 | 83 | Port Of Spain | Trinidad & Tobago |
| 20 | 86 | Sao Paulo | Brazil |
| 21 | 90 | Detroit | United States |
| 22 | 93 | Panama City | Panama |
| 23 | 94 | St. Louis | United States |
| 24 | 97 | Pittsburgh | United States |
| 25 | 106 | Cleveland | United States |
| 26 | 107 | Portland | United States |
| 27 | 112 | Vancouver | Canada |
| 28 | 115 | Toronto | Canada |
| 29 | 121 | Rio De Janeiro | Brazil |
| 30 | 121 | Lima | Peru |
| 31 | 131 | San Jose | Costa Rica |
| 32 | 133 | Buenos Aires | Argentina |
| 33 | 133 | Havana | Cuba |
| 34 | 136 | Guatemala City | Guatemala |
| 35 | 138 | Winston Salem | United States |
| 36 | 139 | Montreal | Canada |
| 37 | 144 | Mexico City | Mexico |
| 38 | 148 | Quito | Ecuador |
| 39 | 153 | Calgary | Canada |
| 40 | 157 | Kingston | Jamaica |
| 41 | 161 | Ottawa | Canada |
| 42 | 165 | Port au Prince | Haiti |
| 43 | 166 | San Salvador | El Salvador |
| 44 | 170 | Bogota | Colombia |
| 45 | 174 | Brasilia | Brazil |
| 46 | 186 | Asunción | Paraguay |
| 47 | 187 | Monterrey | Mexico |
| 48 | 195 | La Paz | Bolivia |
| 49 | 199 | Tegucigalpa | Honduras |
| 50 | 200 | Managua | Nicaragua |
* North America, South and Central America
Oceania: the most expensive cities in 2019
| Regional ranking | Global ranking | City | Country |
|---|
| 1 | 29 | Noumea | New Caledonia |
| 2 | 50 | Sydney | Australia |
| 3 | 87 | Perth | Australia |
| 4 | 89 | Auckland | New Zealand |
| 5 | 96 | Canberra | Australia |
| 6 | 103 | Brisbane | Australia |
| 7 | 109 | Adelaide | Australia |
