Survey: Tokyo World's Most Expensive City

By Agence France-Presse Tokyo has overtaken Hong Kong as the world's most expensive city for expatriates, with Moscow the priciest place to live in Europe, according to a recent survey by Mercer Human Resource Consulting. With New York set as the base city with 100 points, Tokyo topped Mercer's ranking of 144 cities scoring 126.1 points -- displacing last year's leader Hong Kong, which dropped to 111.6 points. Moscow, with 114.5 points, was the most expensive in Europe, and second only to the Japanese capital worldwide. London was the most expensive European Union capital with 101.3 points, while Paris seems a relative bargain with 84.3 points -- cheaper than Shanghai, Ho Chi Minh City or White Plains, N.Y. "The depreciation of the U.S. dollar against the euro, high inflation and economic recession in many countries have modified the scores of a number of cities," said Mercer senior researcher Yvonne Traber. Sitting at the bottom of the table was Paraguay's capital Ascunsion with 36.5 points. Johannesburg, one-time holder of that dubious honor, moved up to 133rd place with 50.9 points. The survey measures the comparative costs of more than 200 items in each city, including housing, food, clothing, household goods, transport and entertainment. Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2003