If you were allowed to work from anywhere in the world, which would you choose? A priori this seems easy to answer in a place where the cost of living is cheap. But like time, this question is relative. And conditions such as quality of life and even gastronomy come into play. Knowing the cost of living in cities can help you choose one place over another. In this case, consulting firm Mercer published a classification of 227 cities from around the world, ranked from most expensive to least expensive, and compared them to the previous year’s results. Madrid And Barcelona ranked in the top 100, the capital 83rd, Barcelona 75th. Both rank third and seventh, respectively, according to the 2022 rankings. Hong Kong, Singapore and Zurich are the most expensive, while Havana, Karachi and Islamabad are the cheapest.
“Madrid and Barcelona continue to have great potential. Like other European cities, they have been hit by inflation, but They have managed to control the rise in prices since the beginning of the year.“Mercer’s Career area director, Mercer’s director, Spain is one of the EU countries with the lowest inflation, falling to 3.2% in May.
Cost of living was affected by inflation, as in other cities analyzed, a “significant” increase in food and essential products. Specifically, in the Spanish capital, sugar was the most expensive product in 2022, up more than 80%. It is followed by butter (61%), oil (43%) and basket (27%). The only product that experienced a decrease of nearly 8% is fuel oil. For its part, increases were somewhat more moderate in Barcelona; 79% in the case of sugar, 45% in butter, 36% in oil and 25% in the basic basket. As in Madrid, fuel prices are falling by 7%.
Mercer’s Careers area manager Juanvi MartÃnez explained that Madrid and Barcelona continue to hold their prices despite the increase in prices. “a big attraction” for expatriate workers, and they have been able to “control the price increase” since the beginning of the year..
In its analysis of the current context, consulting firm Mercer points out that the crisis between Russia and Ukraine and the emergence of more contagious variants of Covid-19 continue to affect the growth of many global economies. Added to this are aggressive local monetary policies and tightening of global financial conditions. In contrast, at the business level, teleworking many employees “Review your priorities, assess your work-life balance, and think about where you can work”.
Hong Kong once again World’s most expensive city for expatriate company staff, according to Mercer ranking. It is followed by Singapore, which has risen six places compared to last year, surpassing Zurich. Up to five European cities make it into the top ten cities with the most expensive cost of living. And four of them are in Switzerland, the fifth in Copenhagen in Denmark. Tel Aviv and Nassau (Bahamas) in Israel are the eighth and tenth most expensive cities in the world.
Europe’s most expensive cities London (17), Vienna (25), Amsterdam (28), Prague (33)27 places and Helsinki (34) compared to last year.
Big ups and downs
African cities are among the cities with the highest increase in the cost of living compared to the previous year.. Luanda, the capital of Angola, rose 34 places, while Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, rose 21 places to 32; Conakry (Guinea) moves 37 places to maintain 30th place, while N’Djamena, the capital of Cameroon, is in 40th place after climbing forty places. In total, Latin American cities are the most developed in the ranking of the most expensive: San José (Costa Rica) is in 76 position, Mexico City is in 70, and Buenos Aires and Montevideo are in 69.
It is noteworthy that many cities in China have fallen.. Except for Shanghai in 12th place, which is the same as last year, all of them are losing their positions compared to the previous classification. But Beijing is backing three rows; Shenzhen loses seven; Guangzhou drops 18; Qingdao is losing up to 33 places on the list; Nanjing loses 47; Shenyang 36 falls; Chengdu loses by 45; Xian also drops 45 rows; Suzhou 43, Chongqing 43 and Wuhan, the source of the coronavirus and pandemic that swept the world in 2020, fell by 49 places.
Source: Informacion
James Sean is a writer for “Social Bites”. He covers a wide range of topics, bringing the latest news and developments to his readers. With a keen sense of what’s important and a passion for writing, James delivers unique and insightful articles that keep his readers informed and engaged.