EIU – Worldwide Cost of Living 2023

The latest Worldwide Cost of Living survey, conducted by EIU, reveals that prices in major cities around the world have increased by an average of 7.4% in local currency terms over the past year. This growth rate is slightly slower than the 8.1% recorded the previous year, but still considerably higher than the trend observed between 2017 and 2021. Singapore remains the most expensive city for the ninth time in the past 11 years, sharing the top position with Zurich. New York, which tied for first place last year, has dropped to third place along with Geneva. On the other end of the spectrum, Damascus in Syria remains the cheapest city. Among the ten categories in the price index, utility prices increased at a slower rate in the past year, indicating a decrease in the impact of Russia's invasion on Ukraine in 2022. However, grocery prices continue to rise significantly. Western Europe has four cities ranking among the top ten most expensive cities, attributed to sticky inflation in groceries, clothing, personal care, and the appreciation of the euro and other local currencies in the region. Mexican cities Santiago de Querétaro and Aguascalientes experienced the largest gains in rankings, as the peso strengthened against the US dollar due to interest rate hikes and strong inward investment. Chinese cities, on the other hand, have fallen in the rankings, with four cities listed as the biggest movers down, due to slow economic recovery, subdued consumer demand, and currency depreciation. Moscow and St. Petersburg in Russia saw the largest drop in rankings due to sanctions weakening the rouble. Caracas in Venezuela has the highest inflation rate in WCOL, with prices rising by 450% since last year. However, this city is excluded from the global inflation average calculation to avoid distorting the results. Additionally, this year's survey includes Kyiv in Ukraine, which has moved down the rankings to 132nd place compared to its 118th rank in the 2021 edition. Nevertheless, it is not included in the average inflation calculation.