Hong Kong Dethroned as Most Expensive City for Expats

Hong Kong was dethroned as the costliest city for expatriates, according to a recent survey by Mercer, after holding the top rank for three years in a row.

Ashgabat, the capital of Turkmenistan, was ranked as the costliest place for expat living, according to «Mercer’s 2021 Cost of Living City Ranking», unseating Hong Kong from the top spot.

The report is based on the examination of over 400 cities and price evaluation of 200 categories of goods and services across essential needs like housing and utilities to personal spending like footwear and tobacco.

Despite a shuffle at the top, the broader Asia Pacific region still dominated the ranks as home to the costliest cities.

In addition to Ashgabat, another five Asian cities were also ranked within top ten including Hong Kong (2), Tokyo (4), Shanghai (6), Singapore (7) and Beijing (9).

Switzerland was also particularly prominent in the rankings with three cities from the country occupying positions in the top 10.

They include Zurich (5), Geneva (8) and Bern (10).

But regardless of the region, all employees and employers were impacted by the coronavirus pandemic especially with regards to international mobility.

According to Mercer, organizations are already implementing alternatives forms of international assignments and cross-border working arrangements to sustain their overseas operations and workforces.

Cost of living has always been a factor for international mobility planning, but the pandemic has added a whole new layer of complexity, as well as long-term implications related to health and safety of employees, remote working and flexibility policies, among other considerations, said career president and head of Mercer strategy Ilya Bonic.