The Southeast Asian city-state of Singapore retained its title as the world's most expensive city for the second consecutive year, the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) said in a new survey.
In fact, the top five priciest cities ranked in this year's Worldwide Cost of Living Survey remained unchanged from 2014: Paris ranked second followed by Oslo, Zurich and Sydney.
"This façade of relative stability is deceptive, however, and it is extremely rare for an identical top five to be achieved in ranking the global cost of living," the EIU said.
Melbourne ranked sixth, with Geveva, Copenhagen, Hong Kong and Seoul rounding out the top ten. 2015 marks the debut of South Korea's capital on the list as its cost of living now matches that of Hong Kong.
However, the EIU notes that the Swiss franc's recent unpegging from the euro means that Zurich and Geneva would actually be the world's most expensive cities at current exchange rates.
Noticeably, major Japanese cities like Tokyo and Osaka – usually among the world's most expensive during the past two decades – were missing from the EIU's list due to weak inflation and the yen's devaluation.
The bi-annual survey ranks cities based on price comparisons across a basket of goods, including food, drink, clothing, home rents, transport, utility bills, private schools, domestic help and recreational costs.
