An international survey has compared the cost of more than 200 goods and services in 227 cities, finding Istanbul as the 185th most expensive city among them.
Istanbul has ranked as the 185th most expensive city in the world, according to an annual Cost of Living survey of the New York-based Mercer consulting company. Ankara was the only other Turkish city in the 227 list.
Hong Kong once again topped the ranking among all cities. It was followed by Singapore, which jumped up six positions since last year, pushing Zurich to spot number three. The least expensive locations in the ranking include Havana, which dropped 83 spots, due in part to strong currency devaluations mid-last-year, and two cities in Pakistan Karachi and Islamabad.
The global top ten includes five European cities and four of those are in Switzerland, with the fifth being Copenhagen. Other most expensive cities in the region include London,Vienna, Amsterdam, Prague (up 27 spots in the global ranking since last year) and Helsinki.
This year’s ranking includes 227 cities from across five continents. It measures the comparative cost of more than 200 items in each location, including housing, transportation, food, clothing, household goods and entertainment.