Dec. 1 (UPI) — There is a cost of living crisis in major cities across the world, and none is more affected than New York City, which is now tied with Singapore as the most expensive city in which to live.
The Economist Intelligence Unit’s latest Worldwide Cost of Living survey reports that prices have risen by more than 8% in the biggest cities over the last year. The increase is making it harder than ever to make it in the big city.
Tel Aviv and Singapore have been stalwarts atop the list in recent years. This is the first time New York has topped the list. Hong Kong and Los Angeles are tied for fourth and Zurich, Switzerland, is the sixth most expensive city.
The survey was conducted from Aug. 16 to Sept. 16. It found that the cost-of-living price increase of 8.1% was the highest inflation rate in 20 years.
“The war in Ukraine, Western sanctions on Russia and China’s zero-covid policies have caused supply-chain problems that, combined with rising interest rates and exchange-rate shifts, have resulted in a cost-of-living crisis across the world,” EIU said in a statement. ”
“We can clearly see the impact in this year’s index, with the average price rise across the 172 cities in our survey being the strongest we’ve seen in the 20 years for which we have digital data.”
The greatest price increases were energy-related, with a liter of gas rising 22% in a year, the report said.
Along with New York City; Atlanta and Boston moved up in the list, along with Charlotte, Indianapolis, Portland and San Diego.
The biggest movement was for two Russian cities, St. Petersburg and Moscow. Both climbed 16 places. Moscow, the most expensive of the two, is the 37th most expensive city in which to live.
No North American cities appear in the list of the 10 least expensive ones. Damascus, Syria, Tripoli, Libya, and Tehran, Iran, are the least expensive of the 172 cities surveyed.
Tokyo made the largest move down the list, dropping 24 places to become the 37th most expensive city.
The research group said it expects to see prices ease over the next year as supply chain shortages begin to resolve.
