The Lux List / Billionaires

World’s Most Expensive Cities to Live In 2013

With its expansive high rises, fancy restaurants and high-profile boutiques, Tokyo has been named the world’s most expensive city in 2013.

Feb 09, 2013 | By LUXUO

Rainbow Bridge

Tokyo and Osaka have topped an index of the world’s most expensive cities to live in for 2013, familiar positions for the Japanese megacities which have traditionally dominated the list prepared bi-annually by The Economist.

The Worldwide Cost of Living report put the Japanese capital at the top of the index after comparing more than 400 prices across 160 products and service such as food, clothing, household supplies, rent, utility and recreational costs.

Since 1992, with the exception of six years, Tokyo has been the world’s most expensive city to live in, toppled only by Zurich, Paris and Oslo. Asian cities dominate the index, with 11 of the world’s priciest cities coming from the east, and eight coming from Europe.

Tokyo’s inauspicious reign on the list, meanwhile, comes despite a fall in the relative cost of living in Tokyo that comes with Japanese deflation, a weaker yen and rising prices elsewhere in the world.

Notably, Australian cities have also risen quickly through the ranks due economic growth, ensuing inflation and currency swings, making them more costly to live in.

Here’s The Economist’s 10 most expensive cities to live in for 2013:

1.      Tokyo, Japan
2.      Osaka, Japan
3.      Sydney, Australia
4.      Oslo, Norway
5.      Melbourne, Australia
6.      Singapore, Singapore
7.      Zurich, Switzerland
8.      Paris, France
9.      Caracas, Venezuela
10.   Geneva, Switzerland


 
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