Most expensive cities for expats 2021: Budapest takes a great position!
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Mercer, the world’s largest human resources consulting firm, has released its annual Cost of Living Survey, now in its 26th year.
With over 400 cities included, Mercer’s annual report is one of the most influential and comprehensive of its kind. The study helps multinational companies and governments design expatriate compensation packages for their employees and manage international assignment costs.
Yet again, Hong Kong is the world’s most expensive city for expats, followed by Ashgabat in second place, Tokyo in third and Zurich in fourth. Singapore ranks fifth, down two places from the previous year and New York moves up from ninth place to sixth.
“The COVID-19 pandemic reminds us that sending and keeping employees on international assignments is a huge responsibility and a difficult task to manage. Rather than bet on a dramatic resurgence of mobility, organizations should prepare for the redeployment of their mobile workforces, leading with empathy and understanding that not all expatriates will be ready or willing to go abroad.”
Ilya Bonic, Career President & Head of Mercer Strategy
COMPARING THE COST OF LIVING
According to Atlas & Boots, it is important to remember that the ranking is not designed for locals. It is designed for multinational companies looking to place expat employees and is used as a tool to calculate how much overseas workers should be paid.
It also provides an indication to potential expats looking to determine how expensive their new country could be to live in.
Mercer uses New York as its base city and the US dollar as the base currency. The results differ from other surveys such as the Economist’s Worldwide Cost of Living as Mercer focuses specifically on products bought by expats.
