Top 15 Most Costly Cities
| City |
2007 |
2006 |
| Moscow |
1 |
1 |
| London |
2 |
5 |
| Seoul |
3 |
2 |
| Tokyo |
4 |
3 |
| Hong Kong |
5 |
4 |
| Copenhagen |
6 |
8 |
| Geneva |
7 |
7 |
| Osaka |
8 |
6 |
| Zurich |
9 |
9 |
| Oslo |
10 |
10 |
| Milan |
11 |
13 |
| St. Petersburg |
12 |
12 |
| Paris |
13 |
15 |
| Singapore |
14 |
17 |
| New York |
15 |
10 |
Source: Mercer Human Resource Consulting,
Cost of Living Survey-Worldwide Ranking 2007
Who says cities cheaper to live in have the highest number of outsourcing deals converging on their lands? This doesn’t hold true any more.
A look at the Mercer Human Resource Consulting’s Cost of Living Survey Worldwide Ranking 2007 shows that Moscow is the most expensive city to live in. At 12th rank, St. Petersburg is another Russian city that features as one of the most expensive cities to live in.
While there’s no change in the ranking of these cities from the last year, London has gained three positions from last and is now second in the row. London’s gain is attributed to the strengthening Sterling, which gained 6.5% against the dollar last year and the rising realty rates. Mercer HR has taken New York as the base city at a Cost of Living Index of 100.
Seeing this listing in the light of Top 50 Outsourcing Cities that emerged in a Tholons Study last year, it’s clear that it is not the cost of living in a city that decides the place from where you will source your services. Cities like Moscow, Hong Kong, St. Petersburg and Singapore, which are among the top 15 most expensive cities to live in, are also among the top outsourcing destinations according to the Tholons study.
On the other hand, top Indian hubs of outsourcing, Bangalore, NCR of Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai, rank in the range of 60-140 in the Cost of Living survey.
Prague (49), Glasgow City (36), Dublin (18), Shanghai (26) and Beijing (20) are some other cities that figure among the top 50 cities in the Cost of Living survey that are also the preferred outsourcing cities as per the Tholons study.
