Singapore, Bangkok top cost of living survey in ASEAN

Singapore, Bangkok and Jakarta are the top three most expensive cities to live in ASEAN for international assignees, a new survey by ECA International, an international human resources consulting firm, found.

The survey compares a basket of like-for-like consumer goods and services across 440 locations worldwide.

Within Asia, Beijing is now the second most expensive location for international assignees, up from 5th position last year. While Tokyo still tops the list of the most expensive location within Asia for expatriates, globally it has fallen to 10th place on the back of a weaker Yen – a significant drop from last year, when it was the most expensive city in the world for expatriate staff. Companies that need to assign staff to Japan can now do so for considerably less than in recent years, despite the country’s long period of deflation being reversed earlier this year.

Globally, Beijing is the 15th most expensive location for expatriates. Shanghai is in 18th position in the global results, and 4th in Asia. Hong Kong, in 28th place globally and 8th in Asia, is Greater China’s third most expensive city.

Singapore has dropped one place in the regional ranking, to 9th place. It is now behind Hong Kong for the first time since 2010. This is largely due to the recent weakening of the Singapore dollar against the US dollar to which the Hong Kong currency is pegged. Globally, Singapore sits in 30th position, also just behind Hong Kong.

After Japan, some of the biggest falls in living costs in Asia have been seen in Indonesia – also partly as a result of a weaker currency. Jakarta has dropped 45 spots to 172nd place. Karachi remains the cheapest location surveyed in Asia.

The ranking of the most expensive cities in ASEAN is as follows:

Here the full list for Asia:

Top 50 most expensive countries worldwide: