And the word's most expensive city is... Singapore
Photo: SelectTravel
Singapore jumped five places in the chart, thanks to rising costs of food, clothing, transport and education. Indeed, transport costs in Singapore are almost triple that of New York, while car prices have accelerated significantly. The cost of a bottle of table wine (750ml) is now 25.04 US dollars, compared to 12.53 in Tokyo.
The biggest rise, though, has been witnessed by the housing market. Property prices in Singapore have soared in recent years, driven by rising wealth and a wave of foreign buyers, reports Bloomberg.
Inflation has reached an average of 2.8 per cent in the past decade, according to the news agency, ahead of the 1 per cent average recorded for the previous 10 years.
"Singapore’s rise is partially attributable to the continued strength of the Singapore dollar, but the city has seen price rises too which have no doubt been compounded by a reliance on imports,” said Jon Copestake, editor of the EIU report.
Singapore's soaring costs helped to push Japan's capital, formerly the world's most expensive city, down into sixth place, tied with Venezuela's Caracas, Switzerland's Geneva and Australia's Melbourne.
London, on the other hand, was down in 15th place, far ahead of the only other UK city in the report: Manchester, which is the 49th most expensive city in the world.
New York, which EIU uses as the base for the report, may be the most expensive city in the US, but on a global scale sits all the way down in 26th, as locations on the other side of the Atlantic dominate.
Caracas' rise into the top 10 aside, fuelled by an artificially high exchange rate, the majority of the EIU top 10 is made up of European countries.
France's Paris comes in second place, topping the table for the price of 1 litre of unleaded petrol (2.5 US dollars compared to Singapore's $1.73 or Caracas' $0.02). Norway's Oslo is ranked third, while Switzerland's Zurich is the fourth costliest place to live, just above Australia's Sydney. The top 10 is completed by Copenhagen in Denmark.
The cheapest cities in the world, meanwhile, are located primarily in the Middle East and Asia, with Mumbai and Karachi leading the affordability league.