Cost of Living Index 2022

New York and Singapore have claimed the joint title of world’s costliest cities to live in, shows the findings by the Economist Intelligence Unit.

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New York has received this dubious distinction for the first time while Singapore has been a frequent frontrunner in the Worldwide Cost of Living Report by the EIU. Damascus in Syria and Tripoli in Libya remain the cheapest cities. To live, according to the report.

Ahmedabad, Chennai and Bangalore also feature among the most affordable cities to live globally. They are ranked at 165, 164 and 161 spots, respectively, at the index.

The report has also pointed out that the average cost of living in the world’s 172 cities increased by over 8% in the past one year ─ the highest rate in the 20 years for which the EIU has digital cost-of-living data. The report attributed this increase to supply chain disruption caused primarily by the Russia-Ukraine war.

“The biggest upward movers were the Russian cities of Moscow and St Petersburg, which shot up by 88 and 70 places, respectively, as prices soared amid Western sanctions and buoyant energy markets supported the rouble,” the report said.

Conducted between August and September this year, the survey compares over 400 individual prices across over 200 products and services in the world’s 172 cities.

“The war in Ukraine, Western sanctions on Russia and China’s zero-Covid policies have caused supply-chain problems that, combined with rising interest rates and exchange-rate shifts, have resulted in a cost-of-living crisis across the world. We can see the impact in this year’s index, with the average price rise across the 172 cities in our survey being the strongest we’ve seen in the 20 years for which we have digital data,” said Upasana Dutt, head of the Worldwide Cost of Living.

All 22 of the US cities in the survey rose up the rankings amid rapid price rises and a strong dollar.

On the other hand, average cost of living in Asian countries increased by 4.5% showing a much less prominent annual increase. However, performance of individual countries differed widely due to owing to policy and currency movements.

Petrol prices have seen the most rapid increases, but utility and food prices have also increased sharply, says the report.