Singapore remains the most expensive city for expats in the Association for Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, according to the 2016 Cost of Living Survey by consultancy Mercer released on June 22. The cheapest city in terms of living expenses for expats in ASEAN on the list is Kuala Lumpur.
The results can be derived from a global listing of 209 cities across five continents in this year’s survey which measures the comparative cost of more than 200 items in each location, including housing, transportation, food, clothing, household goods and entertainment.
Singapore got a global ranking of 4. Among ASEAN capitals and big cities, Yangon was ranked 2nd most expensive for expats behind Singapore at a global rank of 39. Bangkok comes 3rd at rank 74 of all 209 cities, a significant drop from rank 45 last year, which means life for expats in Thailand’s capital has definitely become cheaper.
Manila is slightly less costly than Bangkok at rank 80, followed by Ho Chi Minh City and Bandar Seri Begawan – both 88 – and Jakarta at 93. The rest of the list ranks Hanoi 106th, Phnom Penh 118th and Kuala Lumpur 151st, for the latter a strong drop from rank 113 last year mainly due to the depreciation of Malaysia’s currency, the ringgit. Vientiane, which should be among ASEAN’s cheapest cities as well, is not included in the survey.
Within Asia-Pacific, Hong Kong (1) emerged as the most expensive city for expatriates both in Asia and globally. Singapore (4) remained steady while Tokyo (5) climbed six places. Shanghai (7) and Beijing (10) follow. Shenzhen (12) is up two places while Seoul (15) and Guangzhou (18) dropped seven and three spots, respectively.
“The strengthening of the Japanese yen pushed Japanese cities up in the ranking,” said Nathalie Constantin-Métral, principal at Mercer and responsible for the survey.
“However, Chinese cities fell in the ranking due to the weakening of the Chinese yuan against the US dollar,” she added.
Worldwide, Hong Kong pushed Angola’s capital Luanda to 2nd position in Mercer’s 2016 survey. Zurich and Singapore remain in 3rd and 4th positions, respectively, whereas Tokyo is in 5th, up six places from last year. Kinshasa ranks 6th and appears for the first time in the top 10, moving up from 13th place.
Other cities appearing in the top 10 of Mercer’s costliest cities for expatriates are Shanghai (7), Geneva (8), N’Djamena (9), and Beijing (10). The world’s least expensive cities for expatriates, according to the survey, are Windhoek (209), Cape Town (208) and Bishkek (207).