Moscow is the world’s most expensive city for expatriates for the second consecutive year, according to the latest Cost of Living Survey from Mercer Human Resource Consulting. London is in  second position, climbing three places since last year. Seoul moves down one place in the ranking to take third place, followed by Tokyo in fourth. Asuncion in Paraguay is the least expensive city for the fifth year running.

Mercer's annual Cost of Living Survey covers 143 cities across six continents and measures the comparative cost of over 200 items in each location, including housing, transport, food, clothing, household goods and entertainment.*  It is the world’s most comprehensive cost of living survey and is used to help multinational companies and governments determine compensation allowances for their expatriate employees.

Top 50 rankings

Europe, Middle East, Africa: Europe dominated the top 50, placing 30 cities on the list and capturing six of spots in the top ten. Strong currencies helped push most European cities higher for 2007.

Africa placed five cities in the top 50, with Douala, Cameroon on top with a rank of 24. Four of the African cities climbed in the rankings while Lagos, Nigeria dropped from 31 to 37.

Four cities in the Middle East were in the top 50 for 2007, lead by Tel Aviv, Israel in 17th place. Istanbul, Turkey took the biggest drop in the top 50, from 15th to 38th.

Asia: Eight Asian cities were on the top 50 list, led by Seoul, Korea in third place. The biggest mover was Taipei, Taiwan which dropped from 28th to 48th.

Americas: Only two US cities made the list (New York City at 15th and Los Angeles at 42nd) thanks to the weak US dollar. No Canadian or Latin American cities were in the top 50.

Australasia: Sydney was the lone representative in the top 50, placing 21st.

* Note that the Cost of Living Indices contained in our press release and this related article have been prepared specifically for our press release and article. The indices are based on Mercer's cost of living database and are modified to include housing and to reflect constant weighting and basket items. The results may differ from those calculated for Mercer's clients who use the results solely for the purpose of expatriate compensation. We do not recommend that expatriates use these figures to compare their own compensation packages.