Hong Kong retains its place atop the rankings for a third straight year as the world’s most expensive city for expats, according to the latest Mercer annual report Tuesday.

In second place was Turkmenistan’s capital city Ashgabat, which has been experiencing hyper-inflation and high costs of importing goods and raw materials.

Tokyo was in third place, followed by Zurich in Switzerland, which has two other cities in the top ten most expensive- Bern (8) and Geneva (9).

Singapore was in fifth place, down two places from the previous year’s survey, and New York in sixth.

Of the four Visegrad capitals, Prague is still by far the most expensive for expats, among the Top 100 in the world with a ranking of #97. Bratislava is the second most expensive, despite falling 26 places in the rankings since 2018, the biggest fall of the four capitals.

Looking for a job in Prague? Visit our new job section!

In Europe, London rose four places to 19th, followed by Copenhagen (#25), Dublin (#46), Milan (#47), and Paris (#50). At #202, Skopje is the cheapest city in Europe.

The least expensive cities on the list are Karachi, Bishkek, Tashkent, Windhoek, and Tunis.

Sarra said the survey was based on the cost of living in February going into March, when “most countries had not yet been affected by the (Covid-19) crisis.”

25

COPENHAGEN

DENMARK

46

DUBLIN

IRELAND

47

MILAN

ITALY

50

PARIS

FRANCE

54

VIENNA

AUSTRIA

64

AMSTERDAM

NETHERLANDS

65

ROME

ITALY

72

MUNICH

GERMANY

74

HELSINKI

FINLAND

76

FRANKFURT

GERMANY

78

BRUSSELS

BELGIUM

82

BERLIN

GERMANY

83

LUXEMBOURG

LUXEMBOURG

87

MADRID

SPAIN

97

PRAGUE

CZECH REPUBLIC

100

DUSSELDORF

GERMANY

102

BARCELONA

SPAIN

106

LISBON

PORTUGAL

106

HAMBURG

GERMANY