The 10 most expensive cities for expats, where the cost of living is low and the quality is high

Hong Kong and these four Swiss cities ranked most expensive for expats to work in 2022

If you're an expat living in Hong Kong, Zurich or Geneva, living costs more than anywhere else on the planet, according to the 2022 Cost of Living Survey, an annual report from consulting firm Mercer.

Hong Kong has been ranked for the fourth time in five years as the world's most expensive city for expats, followed by four Swiss cities: Zurich, Geneva, Basel and Bern.

Ankara, the capital of Turkey, closed the ranking of 227 cities as the most affordable in the world for expats.

If you're in Europe and looking for a cheaper city to live in, look east: Ankara is followed by Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan (226th), Dushanbe in Tajikistan (225th) and Islamabad and Karachi in Pakistan (224th -th and 223rd).

Denmark's capital Copenhagen is the most expensive city for expats, ranking 11th globally, while Sweden's capital Stockholm is more affordable, dropping to 87th in 2022.

Where does cost of living compare to quality of life?

The places with the lowest cost of living but the highest quality are Vancouver and Toronto in Canada, Stockholm in Sweden, Lisbon in Portugal and Frankfurt in Germany.

On the other hand, Hong Kong was found to have the highest cost of living but a lower quality of life than many other countries.

Mercer's report found that countries with the highest cost of living and quality of life tend to rank higher for eco-friendliness.

The cost of living crisis

As with most things over the past two years, the 2022 cost of living report has been significantly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine, which has fueled skyrocketing inflation and volatility in markets.

Annual inflation in the 19-nation eurozone hit a record 8.6 percent in June, surpassing the 8.1 percent recorded in May, according to the latest figures released Friday by Eurostat, the European Union's statistics agency.

Source: Euronews