New York and Singapore are the world’s most expensive cities

The world’s most expensive cities are jointly New York and Singapore, according to the annual Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) survey.

It is the first time New York has topped the rankings. Last year’s number one, Tel Aviv, is now placed third.

Overall, the average cost of living in the world’s biggest cities is up 8.1% this year, the EIU survey reports.

The war in Ukraine and Covid’s impact on supply chains were identified as factors behind the increase.

Inflation was particularly high in Istanbul – with prices up by 86% – Buenos Aires (64%) and Tehran (57%).

High inflation in the US was one of the reasons for New York topping the list. Los Angeles and San Francisco also made the top 10.

Moscow and St Petersburg rose through the rankings by 88 and 70 places, to 37th and 73rd place respectively, partly as a result of Western sanctions over the war in Ukraine.

The survey compares costs in US dollars for goods and services in 173 cities. Kyiv was not included in this year’s review.

The EIU compared more than 400 individual prices across over 200 products and services from 172 cities around the globe.