The annual Worldwide Cost of Living report was recently published by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU). It ranks the most expensive cities in the world. Although Dubai is among the costliest cities, according to other studies, in this report, it has not made to the top 10.
Earlier this year, Savills Live/Work Index ranked Dubai as the world’s 9th most expensive city. The emirate was listed side-by-side with other pricey locations like Hong Kong, Sydney, Tokyo, London and New York.
Another study by Numbeo, which was also published in the early days of 2015, states that Dubai has the fourth highest rents in the world. Again, the Gulf was in the company of other generally costly destinations like Singapore, Hong Kong and Norway. These statistics and figures seem to correspond with the opinion of the majority of expats living in Dubai.
- Read more: UAE Rents Ranked 4th Highest Worldwide
EIU’s research, however, paints a different picture. Even though expensive cities like Hong Kong, Geneva and Singapore are featured in the 2015 Worldwide Cost of Living report, Dubai is nowhere to be found. Savills included the city in its top 12 of the most expensive places to live and work for 2015 together with Sydney and Hong Kong. Sydney and Hong Kong can also be spotted on EIU’s more recent cost of living index at the 5th and 9th positions. As for Dubai, it is off the map.
Similar is the case with Numbeo’s research. According to it, Dubai’s rents are higher than those in many Australian cities, as well as in Oslo, Geneva and Zurich. Again, while all of these places are included in the index of the European Intelligence Unit, Dubai is again missing.
Most expensive cities in the world:
- Singapore, Singapore
- Paris, France
- Oslo, Norway
- Zurich, Switzerland
- Sydney, Australia
- Melbourne, Australia
- Geneva, Switzerland
- Copenhagen, Denmark
- Hong Kong, Hong Kong
- Seoul, South Korea
EIU’s 2015 Worldwide Cost of Living report, remains almost unchanged compared to one year ago. Just like in 2014, Singapore tops the ranking, followed by Paris (2) and Oslo (3). Switzerland’s Zurich (4) and Australia’s Sydney (5) have also maintained their positions from last year’s index. According to the study, the cost of living in most Western European cities have remained very high. That is why the region makes up half the cities listed on the updated ranking. Asian cities, on the other hand, got even pricier. The only exception are Japanese cities like Osaka and Tokyo. They lost a few positions as a result of the devaluation of the Japanese yen.
