Almaty More Expensive than Los-Angeles

Moscow tops the list second year in a row, and is followed by four other most expensive cities: London, Seoul, Tokyo and Hong Kong. Apart from Moscow and Kiev, another city in post-Soviet area that is in the list is Almaty. It made its surprising jump to the top, from 52nd place in 2006 to 30th place in 2007.

So, Almaty turns out to be more expensive than Istanbul (38), Frankfurt (40), Los Angeles (42), Luxembourg (43), Brussels (44), Berlin (45) and Prague (49).

Mercer’s annual Cost of Living Survey covers 143 cities across six continents and measures the comparative cost of over 200 items in each location, including housing, transport, food, clothing, household goods and entertainment. It is the world’s most comprehensive cost of living survey and is used to help multinational companies and governments determine compensation allowances for their expatriate employees.