Hong Kong and Paris are now the world's most expensive cities to live together with Singapore. It's the first time that three cities have been for the first place in the 30-year history of the Economist Intelligence Unit's 2019 Worldwide Cost of Living Survey.
Hong Kong moved up three places to join Singapore, which has been the world's most expensive place to live for the last five years. Paris, which has been one of the top 10 since 2003, moved up this year from the second most expensive last year. Paris, Singapore and Hong Kong are all 7 percent more expensive to live than New York.
The survey released on Tuesday compares the cost of 160 items, such as food, drink, transport, utility bills, and rent, in 133 cities. The top 10 most expensive cities are largely from Asian and European cities.
● Japan's Osaka moved up six positions, and now shares the fifth place with Switzerland's Geneva.
● New York and Los Angeles are the only North American cities in the top 10, to seventh place, a position it shares with Denmark's Copenhagen.
● Los Angeles was named the 10th most expensive city in the world, along with Israel's Tel Aviv. San Francisco has also become a more expensive place to live in.
● Swiss cities Zurich and Geneva, coming in at fourth and fifth (with Osaka), had the highest costs when it came to household, personal care and entertainment.
