Dubai is now Ranked 21st among Most Expensive Cities in the World
According to the latest survey Dubai is now ranked 21st among most expensive cities in the world to live in. Dubai has moved up two spots from 23rd to 21st in an annual survey report “Quality of Living” published by Mercer. Mercer is the world’s largest Human Resources consulting firm. Its’s Headquartered is in New York City, have offices in 40 countries and its more than twenty thousand employees operates in 130 countries all around the world.
Abu Dhabi also moved up to 25th position. Abu Dhabi has shot up eight places where it was ranking 33rd in year 2015. However, the rise in the rankings for the UAE cities is more to do with the US dollar and UAE Dirham exchange rate. AED Dirham has not fallen as much as other global currencies against US dollar. Also, a lot of the study is based on 2015 when rents were very high in Dubai. Property Rents are getting better this year.
Rob Thissen, Talent Mobility Consultant at Mercer Middle East, said: “Price inflation in general was on the lower side across the board, which ensured currency fluctuations had the biggest impact on costs for expats. You had a situation when the likes of the pound, yuan and most of the emerging market currencies slipping against the dollar and that impacted on the individual city rankings. With most of the Gulf currencies pegged to the dollar, those cities moved up at the expense of those which dropped down.”
Regarding Dubai Rob Thissen said: “Definitely, Dubai has been seeing a slight deterioration in rental values – but the survey also takes in part of 2015 and at the time, rents were still on the higher side.”
The annual survey is designed to help companies figure out salaries for expat employees. It takes into account the prices for over 200 goods and services in a city in order to create the ranking, including housing, transportation, food, clothing, household goods and entertainment. This year the survey analysed the numbers in 370 cities worldwide, and ranked 209 cities across five continents.
Top 25 Most Expensive Cities in the World
1. HONG KONG, Hong Kong
2. LUANDA, Angola
3. ZURICH, Switzerland
4. SINGAPORE, Singapore
5. TOKYO, Japan
6. KINSHASA, Congo
7. SHANGHAI, China
8. GENEVA, Switzerland
9. NDJAMENA, Chad
10. BEIJING, China
11. NEW YORK CITY, United States
12. SHENZHEN, China
13. LAGOS, Nigeria
13. BERN, Switzerland
15. SEOUL, South Korea
16. VICTORIA, Seychelles
17. LONDON, United Kingdom
18. GUANGZHOU, China
19. TEL AVIV, Israel
20. ABUJA, Nigeria
21. DUBAI, United Arab Emirates
22. OSAKA, Japan
23. BRAZZAVILLE, Congo
24. COPENHAGEN, Denmark
25. ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates
Top 10 Cheapest Cities in the World
1. WINDHOEK, Namibia
2. CAPE TOWN, South Africa
3. BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan
4. BLANTYRE, Malawi
5. JOHANNESBURG, South Africa
6. MINSK, Belarus
7. TUNIS, Tunisia
8. KARACHI, Pakistan
9. GABORONE, Botswana
10.LUSAKA, Zambia
