World's Priciest City Is Dirt Poor

Luanda tops expat list once again
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 11, 2014 10:14 AM CDT
World's Priciest City Is Dirt Poor
One of the poorest parts of the most expensive city as seen from the air.   (AP Photo / Saul Loeb, Pool)

Most people in Luanda scrape by on a few dollars a day, but the Angolan capital has topped a list of the world's most expensive cities for expatriates for another year. Business consultancy Mercer says the high cost of imported goods and "secure living accommodations" has made the city eye-wateringly expensive for expatriates, CNBC reports. Chad's capital N'Djamena came second on Mercer's annual list of the priciest cities for expats, with Hong Kong, Singapore, and Zurich rounding out the top five.

The list takes into account the prices expatriate workers pay for more than 200 goods and services, including housing, schooling, and booze, the Atlantic notes. (Some 2012 prices for Luanda: $10,000 a month for a house and $200 a day for SUV rental.) Tokyo, which knocked Luanda into second place in 2012, was seventh in this year's survey, while the most expensive American city on the list was New York City at number 16. At the bottom of the list of 211 cities: Karachi, Pakistan; living in Luanda is more than three times pricier. (More Luanda stories.)

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