Beijing: the 20th Most Costly City on Earth

The 2011 cost of living survey by Mercer Management Consulting shows that Luanda, Angola is the most expensive city in the world, followed by Tokyo, Japan. Beijing ranks 20th among the 214 cities the survey covered, down four places from last year. Shanghai is just behind it in 21st place. Of the top ten, four are in Asia – Tokyo and Osaka (6th), Singapore (4th) and Hong Kong (9th). China's Guangzhou and Shenzhen both made into the top 50. Two factors determine a city's ranking in Mercer's cost of living survey: the relative strength or weakness of the relevant currency against the U.S. dollar over the previous 12 months, and price movements over the previous year compared to that in New York as the baseline. New York sits in humble 32nd place on the list.