^{Tuesday 29th June 2010}

London has been ranked the 17th most expensive city in the world for expats to live in a survey which measures the total cost of living within 214 global cities.

The survey conducted by consultancy group Mercer measured the cost of living in each place based on 200 items, including housing, transport, food, clothing and household goods.

Luanda in Angola was ranked the most expensive place for expats followed by Tokyo, N'djamena in Chad, Moscow and Geneva. Libreville in Gabon was also listed in the top 10 which Mercer believes to reflect the growing economic importance of Africa. The cost of living in African cities is thought to be higher due to the cost of finding secure accommodation.

Australia and New Zealand cities were judged to be cheaper than their Asian counterparts with Sydney judged to be 24th most expensive, Melbourne 33rd and Perth 60th while Auckland comes in at a very reasonable 149th.

These rankings were favourable in comparison to Tokyo’s second place, Osaka in sixth, Hong Kong in eighth, Singapore in 11th and Beijing 16th.
Karachi in Pakistan was judged to be the least expensive place for expats to live, followed by Managua in Nicaragua.

If you are considering moving abroad to become an expat, please check out our Living in Guides for more inspiration. If you would like more information on your finances abroad, please contact us.