A recent survey of costs in major cities around the world found that Asian cities are by far the most expensive to visit or live in, with seven Asian cities among the top 10. The European city with the highest living expenses is Moscow (No. 6); in the Americas Sao Paulo, Brazil (No. 20) and in Africa, it's Libreville, Gabon (No. 29).

If Washington, D.C., is assigned a value of 100, costs in the following cities are correspondingly higher or lower (Index).
MOST EXPENSIVE CITIES LEAST EXPENSIVE CITIES
Rank
 Index
 Rank
 Index
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
 		Tokyo, Japan
Osaka, Japan
Beijing, China
Hong Kong
Shanghai, China
Moscow, Russia
Seoul, South Korea
Geneva, Switzerland
Guangzhou, China
Zurich, Switzerland
 		223
206
183
174
173
172
171
157
153
153
 		144
143
142
141
140
139
138
137
136
135
 Bangalore, India
Vilnius, Lithuania
Harare, Zimbabwe
Blantyre, Malawi
Algiers, Algeria
Lagos, Nigeria
Calgary, Alberta
Monterrey, Mexico
Mexico City, Mexico
Johannesburg, S. Africa
 67
68
68
68
72
73
74
75
76
77
OTHER EXPENSIVE CITIES
AMERICAS EUROPE
Rank
 Index
 Rank
 Index
22
23
36
62
78
 		Buenos Aires, Argentina
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
New York City
Montevideo, Uruguay
San Francisco
 		130
128
119
108
104
 		13
16
19
24
25
 Vienna, Austria
Paris, France
Copenhagen, Denmark
Berlin, Germany
London, England
 142
137
133
127
127
MOST EXPENSIVE HOTEL
AND TRAVEL COSTS 		MOST EXPENSIVE RESTAURANT
AND ENTERTAINMENT COSTS
Rank
 Index
 Rank
 Index
1
2
3
4
5
 		Hong Kong
Moscow
Tokyo
Brussels
Geneva
 		153
153
153
143
137
 		1
2
3
4
5
 Tokyo
Osaka
Zurich
Geneva
Vienna
 197
174
150
148
146
NOTE: Rankings are based on a survey by the private research firm Corporate Resources Group, Geneva, conducted in March in more than 140 cities, chosen according to clients' demands. Currency conversions are based on prevailing rates during the survey. The index is based on a basket of more than 200 products and services, including: food consumed at home, alcoholic beverages, tobacco, domestic supplies and services, home services, personal care, clothing, utilities, transportation, sports and leisure, entertainment at home, housing, schooling and travel. Hotel and travel costs as well as entertainment and restaurant costs were not included in overall rankings.

See for Yourself
Maybe the survey is right. Check out this comparison between a hotel room in Tokyo (the most expensive city in the survey) and Bangalore, India (the least expensive).

Since Washington is the basis for the index in the survey, see how far your D.C. dining dollar will go with our restaurants database. Then compare that with the most popular restaurants in New York City (the most expensive U.S. city in the survey).

And for WashingtonPost.com's coverage of the world, see our regional pages, featuring news, reference materials and Internet resources for seven different regions and all the countries within them:

Asia/Pacific Europe Former Soviet Union Middle East
North, Central America South America Africa

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