The world’s most and least expensive cities to live in revealed
Cities with the highest and lowest cost of living
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Have you ever wondered whether life would be cheaper if you lived somewhere else? We've used The Worldwide Cost of Living Report 2018 by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) to bring you the top 10 cheapest, and most expensive, cities to live in in the world. Comparing more than 400 individual prices across 160 goods and services, in more than 130 cities all over the world, we’ve looked at the cost in US dollars of a 1kg loaf of bread, a bottle of table wine, 20 branded cigarettes, and 1 litre of unleaded petrol, to bring you the definitive ranking...
The cheapest: =9th cheapest: New Delhi, India
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In the city known for its bustling streets filled with tuk-tuks and markets, it’s cheap to be a local. Savvy shopkeepers often have a “tourist” price and an “Indian” price, meaning that locals enjoy low prices on food, clothing and household goods while tourists are happy to pay more. A 1kg loaf of bread costs on average $1.07 (£0.84); 20 branded cigarettes cost $5.11 (£4.03); and a litre of unleaded petrol costs $1.07 (£0.84). The outlier is alcohol, coming in at a steep $19.03 (£15.01) per bottle of table wine, due to India’s high taxes on alcohol.
= 9th cheapest: Bucharest, Romania
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8th cheapest: Chennai, India
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= 6th cheapest: Algiers, Algeria
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= 6th cheapest: Karachi, Pakistan
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Pakistan’s largest city, located on the south coast, is a melting pot of cultures with migrants making up an estimated 90% of its population. In Karachi, cigarettes come to $1.68 (£1.32) for 20, bread costs $1.70 (£1.34), and petrol works out as $0.68 (£0.54) per litre. However, alcohol is expensive at $14.14 per bottle of wine: 96.5% of the population is Muslim and legally prohibited from drinking alcohol, while for the small proportion of non-Muslims who can drink, high taxes make the hard stuff more expensive.
5th cheapest: Bengaluru, India
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4th cheapest: Lagos, Nigeria
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The population of Nigeria’s largest city has ballooned in recent years, though development is unequal – many people live in slums while luxury apartment blocks are springing up alongside them. In Lagos, the average 1kg loaf of bread costs just $1.16 (£0.91); a bottle of table wine is $6.79 (£5.35); 20 cigarettes cost $1.26 (£0.99) and petrol is just $0.40 (£0.32) a litre.
Rich city, poor city: where prosperity and poverty are neighbours
3rd cheapest: Almaty, Kazakhstan
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Almaty, the largest city in Kazakhstan, saw prices tumble after the central bank introduced a free-floating exchange regime in 2015, which meant the country would not intervene in the currency’s price, causing the Tenge (Kazakhstan’s currency) to drop in value. Coupled with deflation, this has kept prices low: cigarettes are especially cheap at $1.07 (£0.84) for 20, while petrol costs just over 50 cents (£0.39) a litre, table wine is $7.45 (£5.88) per bottle and a loaf of bread costs just over a dollar.
2nd cheapest: Caracas, Venezuela
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Cheapest: Damascus, Syria
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The most expensive: 10th most expensive: Sydney, Australia
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9th most expensive: Tel Aviv, Israel
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Israelis aren’t happy about the hiking cost of living in their country: in 2011, many took to the streets of Tel Aviv in a “cottage cheese protest” to show their upset about the rising price of dairy products, yet eight years later the situation doesn’t seem to have improved. A loaf of bread costs an extortionate $5.10 (£4.02), while wine comes in at $28.77 (£22.69) a bottle, 20 cigarettes is $9.03 (£7.12), and petrol is $1.68 (£1.32) per litre.
8th most expensive: Copenhagen, Denmark
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The capital of the country known for its hygge (i.e. enjoying the cosiness inside during winter months) and happiness, with Denmark being ranked the second happiest country in the world by the World Happiness Report 2019. But you might be surprised at how expensive Copenhagen is: a loaf of bread costs $3.87 (£3.05), a bottle of wine is $13.28 (£10.47), 20 cigarettes cost $7.03 (£5.54) and a litre of petrol $1.67 (£1.32). Yet with Denmark’s high minimum wage of $19 (£14.97) an hour and progressive, redistributive taxation, most locals can afford this pricey city.
7th most expensive: Seoul, South Korea
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6th most expensive: Geneva, Switzerland
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5th most expensive: Oslo, Norway
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4th most expensive: Hong Kong, China
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In Hong Kong, taxes are famously low – largely because the government makes a fortune from sky-high housing prices. In a Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey, Hong Kong was ranked the most expensive housing market worldwide, with housing prices being 18.1 times higher than the gross median household income. Housing isn't the only thing that's expensive: a loaf of bread costs $4.16 (£3.28), wine costs $16.16 (£12.74), cigarettes cost $7.29 (£5.75), and a litre of petrol is a whopping $7.29 (£5.75).
3rd most expensive: Zurich, Switzerland
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2nd most expensive: Paris, France
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Most expensive: Singapore, Republic of Singapore
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The world’s most expensive city to live in is Singapore, a ranking it’s held onto since 2014. Three interconnected factors contribute to the high cost of living: inflation, housing affordability and immigration. In Singapore, you’ll pay: $3.71 (£2.93) for a loaf of bread, $23.68 (£18.67) for a bottle of wine, $9.66 (£7.62) for 20 cigarettes, and $1.56 (£1.23) for a litre of petrol.
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