Most expensive cities for expats

In a survey conducted by Mercer that covers 214 cities across five continents and measures the comparative cost of over 200 items, Luanda in Angola is the world's most expensive city for expatriates. New York has been used as the base city for the index and currency movements are measured against the US dollar.

Cost of Living: Rank 1

Though Luanda is the world's most expensive cities, living conditions in Luanda are extremely poor, with essential services such as safe drinking water still in short supply. Manufacturing in Luanda includes processed foods, beverages, textiles, cement and other building materials, plastic products, metalware, cigarettes, and shoes/clothes. (Image Source: angola.org)

Cost of Living: Rank 2

Tokyo ranks second on the list, the most expensive in the Asia Pacific. Other highly ranked Asian cities are Hong Kong (8), Singapore (11), Seoul (14), Beijing (16), Nagoya (19) in Japan, Shanghai (25) and Taipei (78). (Source:citynoise.org)

Cost of Living: Rank 3

Reflecting the increasing economic importance of the African region across all business sectors, Ndjamena of Chad ranks as on of the most expensive cities in the list. The city was partly destroyed during the Chadian Civil War. In these years almost all of the population fled the town, searching for refuge on the opposite bank of the Chari river, in Cameroon next to the city of Kousseri. (Source:citypictures.org)

Cost of Living: Rank 4

While Moscow is placed fourth, other expensive cities in Europe are Oslo (11) in Norway, Milan (15) in Italy, London and Paris (both 17) and Bern (22) in Switzerland, Rome (26), Vienna (28), St Petersburg (30) Amsterdam (35), Baku (36) Dublin (42), Istanbul (44), Barcelona (49), Frankfurt (50), Madrid (52) and Lisbon (72). (Image Source: NYT)

Cost of Living: Rank 5

This city from Switzerland is the most populous city of Romandie (the French-speaking part of Switzerland). Situated where the Rhône River exits Lake Geneva, it is the capital of the Republic and Canton of Geneva. (Source:geneva-tourism.ch)

Cost of Living: Rank 6

The second city from Japan to find a place on the list. Osaka functions as one of the command centers for the Japanese economy. The ratio between daytime and night time population is 141%, the highest in Japan, highlighting its status as an economic center (Image Source:NYT)

Cost of Living: Rank 7

The third city from Africa on the list. Capital of Gabon, Libreville is home to shipbuilding industry, brewing industry and sawmills. The city exports raw materials such as wood, rubber and cocoa(Image Source:libreville.com)

Cost of Living: Rank 8

The third city from Europe on the list. The Greater Zürich Area is Switzerland's economic centre and home to a vast number of international companies. By far the most important sector in the economy of Zürich is the service industry, which employs nearly four fifths of workers. (Image Source:NYT)

Cost of Living: Rank 8

Sharing the eight spot with Zurich on the list, Hong Kong maintains a highly developed capitalist economy and has been ranked the freest in the world by the Index of Economic Freedom for 15 consecutive years. (Image Source:NYT)

Cost of Living: Rank 10

The tenth expensive city on Mercer list, Copenhagen is the economic and financial centre of Denmark and also strong business and economic centre in the Scandinavian-Baltic region. (Image Source:NYT)

Cost of Living: Rank 85

New Delhi, the capital of India, has been placed on the 85th place. Other cities to find a place on the list are Mumbai (89) and Bangalore (190). (Source:delhitourism.gov.in)