Hong Kong is the most expensive city for expatriates, according to a survey released by consultancy firm Mercer on Wednesday.
Last year, the top spot was held by Luanda, a city in Angola, Africa. The firm said that Hong Kong took first place this year due to the weakening of the Angolan currency. Luanda now comes in second.
Fellow Asian cities, Singapore and Tokyo, ranked fourth and fifth respectively. Shanghai and Beijing came in at seven and 10.
The 22th annual Cost of Living Rankings examined more than “209 cities across five continents and measures the comparative cost of more than 200 items in each location, including housing, transportation, food, clothing, household goods, and entertainment,” the firm said in its press release.
High housing costs have been a persistent problem in Hong Kong and local working class people have been pushed out of their homes and onto the streets due to unaffordable rents.
The survey is meant “to help multinational companies and governments determine compensation strategies for their expatriate employees.”
