Top 10 Most Expensive Cities In The World
Ever
wondered what are the most expensive places in the world to live?
Everyone knows that it costs more to live in some places than others,
but just what is the most expensive city in the world to live in. This
is a list of the 10 cities in the world where it is most expensive to
live in early 2009 as defined by the Economist, although this will most
likely change in line with regional economic changes and currency
fluctuations.
1. Tokyo
The
Japanese capital city of Tokyo comes first on the list of most
expensive cities to live in. In addition to being the top of the list of
cities with the highest living costs, it is also the centre of the
world's largest metropolitan area by both population and economy This is
probably what makes it the most expensive city in the world in which to
live. The Tokyo stock exchange is one of the world's largest, and is
the largest one in Japan. Many international companies are based in
Tokyo, and yet more have regional offices in the city which leads to a
lot of highly paid jobs. In addition, the large size of the population
leads to massive demand for space, and this is further exacerbated by
the fact that Tokyo is surrounded by the Bay of Tokyo and a lot of steep
hills and mountains. All of these factors combine to make Tokyo the
most expensive city in the world in which to live
2. Osaka-Kobe
The
second highest cost of living is for two linked cities in Japan - Osaka
and Kobe. As with many Japanese cities, both of these have an extremely
high population density, which leads to expensive housing and other
costs. Both cities are very large with populations in excess of 1
million. In each city there are a number of different industries, with
many large multinational companies having their headquarters in the
respective cities of these include Mitsubishi, Mizuno, Panasonic, Sanyo
and Sharp. There is also a relatively large financial industry in both
cities, leading to high wages. The high cost of land, as well as high
wages, combine to make the Osaka-Kobe region the second most expensive
region in the world in which to live
3. Paris
Paris
is the capital city of France, and comes in third on the list of most
expensive cities in the world. The city of Paris is a rather compact
area, although the metropolitan area is much larger and includes many
satellite towns. The central area of Paris, and the area with which this
cost of living list deals with, refers solely to the city of Paris.
Paris is famous for tourism, and whilst this generates a large amount of
money for the local economy, it does lead to demands for less
development of the older parts of the city. As such this leads to less
modern space for both commerce and residences than many other cities,
and this pushes up the cost of living. Another factor in the high cost
of living is the strong economy of the Paris region, and therefore high
average wage. Major industries in Paris include the previously mentioned
tourism, as well as finance and high-tech manufacturing. All of these
factors combine to give the city of Paris the third highest cost of
living worldwide.
4. Copenhagen
Copenhagen
is the fourth most expensive city in the world in which to live. Like
Helsinki and Oslo which also appear in the top 10 most expensive cities
in terms of cost of living, it too is the capital city of a Scandinavian
country. In Copenhagen's case the country is Denmark, and like both
Oslo and Helsinki, it is not only the political capital city but the
dominant city in the country economically and culturally as well.
Copenhagen is the location for many international head and regional
offices, such as Maersk which has head offices in Copenhagen and
Microsoft, for which Copenhagen provides the regional headquarters.
Recently Copenhagen, and Denmark as a whole has seen massive growth,
both domestically and internationally. For example, the largest wind
turbine manufacturer, Vestas, is a Danish company. All of these factors
combined lead to Copenhagen having an extremely strong economy, with the
corresponding high wages, which results in it being in fourth position
on the list of most expensive cities in terms of cost of living.
5. Oslo
The
city in the world with the fifth highest cost of living is the
Norwegian capital city of Oslo. Oslo is Norway's biggest city, both
economically and by population. Norway is one of the most developed
countries in the world, with a large income from a variety of sources.
These include the large offshore oil and gas reserves, maritime
engineering and insurance and tourism. Norway has one of the highest
average wages for a country in the world, and Oslo has an average even
higher than this national average. Due to the high average wage, linked
to the fact that many basic commodities such as many foodstuffs are
imported, leads to an extremely high cost of living. This is further
exaggerated by the very high Norwegian tax rate. Finally there is large
public opposition to both the development of the city itself with
high-rise buildings and the surrounding areas, resulting in space
becoming at a premium. All of these factors combine to make Oslo the
fifth most expensive city in the world in which to live.
6. Zurich
Located
in Switzerland, Zurich comes sixth on the list of most expensive cities
in the world by living costs. Zurich is to Switzerland like New York is
to the USA, it is the commercial capital of the country but not the
political one. Zurich is home to many top educational institutions, and
this helps ensure that the top minds in Switzerland and further afield
come to live in Zurich, and it is likely that many of these will spend
at least some of their working lives here. A large proportion of the
Swiss economy is based on financial services, and many multinational
companies such as UBS Zurich Financial Services and Credit Suisse are
based here. In addition, the population of Zurich is very diverse, and
this potentially explains why many international companies, such as IBM,
Google and Microsoft have facilities here. All of these factors mean
that Zurich has a very strong economy, and this results in the 6th
highest cost of living worldwide.
7. Helsinki
In
terms of the cost of living, Helsinki is joint seventh most expensive
along with Frankfurt. Helsinki is the capital city of Finland, and is
located in the far south of the country next to the Gulf of Finland.
Despite being at the south of Finland, it is still a very northerly city
and so can get very cold in the winter. Helsinki is the economic centre
of the Finnish economy, and this partly explains the high cost of
living. Helsinki has traditionally had a large shipbuilding industry and
this continues to this day, although there are now also more hi-tech
industries such as Nokia which is located just outside the city. Along
with other Scandinavian countries, Finland has a relatively high tax
rate, and this combined with the large amount of wealth generated is
probably what results in Helsinki having the joint seventh highest cost
of living in the world.
8. Frankfurt
Frankfurt
is joint seventh most expensive city to live in along with Helsinki.
Frankfurt is a city in Germany, and is located on the Main River, which
leads to it's full name Frankfurt am Main. When Germany was divided, it
was located in west Germany, and so with berlin isolated became the
economic powerhouse of west Germany, and upon re-unification it retained
this position. It is the largest financial centre of mainland Europe,
and both the European and German central banks are located here, as well
as the Frankfurt stock exchange which is one of the biggest in the
world. All of this wealth leads to Frankfurt being the joint seventh
most expensive city in the world to live in
9. Geneva
Geneva
is a city nestled between Lake Geneva and The Alps in Switzerland.
Although most of the city is in Switzerland, due to the high cost of
living in the city proper many people commute in from nearby France.
Geneva is famous for being the location where the Geneva Conventions
were signed, which govern the handling of prisoners of war. Geneva is
also home to the headquarters of the International Committee of the Red
Cross, and many United Nations departments are also based here. In
addition to being a major city in humanitarian terms, Geneva is also the
6th most important financial centre in the world. All of these factors,
along with the fantastic location alongside Lake Geneva and a policy to preserve the city, leads to it having the ninth highest cost of living worldwide.
10. Singapore
Singapore
is both a city and country located in south east Asia. The city of just
under 5 million people takes up the majority of the country of 710km2, leading to an extremely high population density of almost 7000 people per km2.
It is located on a small island, which lies in one of the busiest
waterways in the world which connects east Asia with south Asia, Africa
and Europe. The city first started to grow to prominence under European
rule because of it's high strategic importance and the city has
continued to grow in stature since independence. The city has an
extremely strong economy based it's business friendly policies leading
to many international corporations having a base here. There is also a
thriving high-tech manufacturing part to the economy, and the Port of
Singapore is one of the world's busiest ports, particularly in the
transhipment of goods. This thriving economy combined with lack of space
for expansion leads to Singapore being the tenth most expensive city in
the world to live.
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