Paris has lost the lead to…Tel Aviv!

The Israeli city of Tel Aviv is the most expensive city in the world. This is evident from an analysis of the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU). The city is closely followed by Paris, which has to share second place in the ranking with Singapore. Zurich, Hong Kong, New York and Geneva follow, after which Copenhagen, Los Angeles and Osaka complete the top ten.

From groceries to transport

For the ranking, the research group analyzed the cost of living in 173 cities worldwide. For example, the costs of groceries, fuel, recreation, personal care, clothing and transport were examined. The costs of each of these categories were then converted to US dollars for each city, after which the cost of living in the different cities could be easily compared.

Tel Aviv

And then Tel Aviv comes out as the most expensive. The city overthrows Paris – which last year led the ranking of the most expensive cities – from the throne. According to the researchers, this has mainly to do with the appreciation of the Israeli currency: the shekel. As a result, the local costs when converted to dollars are remarkably high.

What is also striking is that the cost of living has risen sharply in many cities. It has everything to do with the corona crisis. Many cities are regularly confronted with coronavirus outbreaks and related restrictions. In some cities, this leads to goods being more limited in stock. And that drives the price up.

Cheapest Cities

In addition to the most expensive cities, the EIU has also listed the cheapest cities. That ranking is led by Damascus (Syria), Tripoli (Libya) and Tashkent (Uzbekistan). Followed by Tunis (Tunisia), Almaty (Kazakhstan), Karachi (Pakistan), Ahmedabad (India), Algiers (Algeria), Buenos Aires (Argentina) and Lusaka (Zambia).

Amsterdam

There is no place for Dutch glory in both the top ten most expensive and cheapest cities. But the report contains another ranking in which our capital has been given a fairly prominent place. This is the ranking of cities in which petrol is the most expensive. Amsterdam is in second place with an average price of 2.18 euros for 1 liter of unleaded petrol. Only in Hong Kong is gasoline more expensive.

What the future will bring – certainly with all the uncertainty surrounding COVID-19 – is of course a matter of waiting. But the EIU expects the cost of living to continue to rise in most major cities. If the corona crisis can be averted next year and restrictions – and consequent scarcity of certain goods – can be gradually phased out, the cost of living could stabilize by the end of 2022.