Singapore has experienced a significant rise up ECA’s cost of living rankings, now the 12th most expensive location in the world for expatriates, ECA International said recently.
This was one of the findings from the latest Cost of Living survey published by ECA International, the world's leading provider of knowledge, information and software for the management and assignment of employees around the world.
“Singapore’s rise in our rankings is largely due to another strong year for the Singapore dollar,” said Lee Quane, Regional Director – Asia at ECA International.
While increases in prices have been small over the past year, the strength of the Singapore dollar relative to other currencies makes Singapore the 12th most expensive location in the world and the sixth in Asia, overtaking Beijing, Busan and Yokohama from a year ago, ECA pointed out.
This also marks the continuation of a longer-term trend, with Singapore rising 18 places since 2014 when it was 30th in the global rankings, the company added.
But Singapore is still a cheaper location than Hong Kong, now the fourth most expensive location in the world for expatriates, up from 11th last year, and the second most expensive location in Asia, ECA said.
After being ranked in 28th place just five years ago, Hong Kong now sits only behind Ashgabat, Turkmenistan and the Swiss cities, Zurich and Geneva, the firm noted.
“Hong Kong is now one of the top five most expensive locations for expatriates, primarily due to the continued strength of the Hong Kong dollar,” Quane said. “Prices in Hong Kong rose at a faster rate in the past 12 months compared to Tokyo, Shanghai and Seoul—all of which were ranked higher in our previous survey.”
Chinese cities
The Chinese cities included in the rankings all remained fairly static, with none of the 14 locations moving more than four places, according to ECA.
Shanghai was the only Chinese city to feature in the global top 10, staying in 10th place.
“The Chinese yuan has been very stable compared to other currencies during the survey period,” said Quane. “Prices have risen at a faster rate in tier two locations, resulting in a narrowing gap in living costs for expatriate workers in tier one and tier two cities in the past year.”
This represents the continuation of a trend we have observed, with several developing cities such as Chengdu and Tianjin rising significantly in our rankings over the course of the past five years, he pointed out.
All 14 of the Chinese cities in ECA’s rankings now feature in the global top 50, as compared to five years ago when there were only four, he added.
Other Asian cities
Elsewhere in Asia, Thai cities saw another significant rise in the cost of living rankings, with capital city Bangkok jumping by 36 places, ECA observed.
While the cost of living in Thailand increase over several years now, Bangkok especially has risen by over 100 places in the space of five years, and is now the 63rd most expensive location in ECA’s rankings, the firm said.
Bangkok is now significantly more expensive than regional capitals including Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur and Manila, according to ECA.
The location with the highest cost of living in the world was Ashgabat in Turkmenistan, which rose a staggering 110 places from last year.
“Although the rise of Ashgabat in the rankings may be a surprise to some, those familiar with the economic and currency issues experienced by Turkmenistan over the past few years may have seen this coming,” Quane said. “Ever-escalating levels of inflation, coupled with a prominent illegal black market for foreign currencies have pushed up the cost of imports. This implies that the costs for visitors in Ashgabat, at the official exchange rate, have increased enormously—putting it firmly at the top of the rankings.”
