Singapore is world’s second most costly city for expats: Mercer poll

SINGAPORE was named the second most-expensive city – after Hong Kong – for employees working abroad in Mercer’s latest annual cost-of-living survey for 2023. The Republic jumped six spots from its eighth position in the previous year.

This is in light of Singapore’s strong currency and inflationary pressures due to supply disruptions and rising fuel costs, said Mercer’s regional mobility leader for Asia-Pacific, Tracey Ma, on Friday (Jun 23).

“Across the region, we have experienced high inflation in the majority of the key markets, such as Singapore. In addition to the local market position, the ranking also makes comparisons across markets over a 12-month period.” 

Four Swiss cities dominate the top 10 list after Singapore. They are placed alongside New York in the United States, Tel Aviv in Israel, as well as the capital cities of Denmark and the Bahamas, respectively, Copenhagen and Nassau. 

Singapore and Hong Kong are the only two Asian cities in Mercer’s top 10 ranking, with Hong Kong retaining its reign amid soaring housing prices. 

Yet, Asia is also home to the world’s two least-expensive cities in Mercer’s ranking. They are Karachi and Islamabad, both in Pakistan and ranked 226th and 227th, respectively.  

Forty out of 49 Asian cities either retained or fell in the rankings. These include Beijing and Tokyo, which slid from the top 10 list in 2022 to place at 13th and 19th, respectively, in this year’s rankings. 

Ma attributed this trend to relatively slower consumer demand in Asia, particularly Japan, along with Asian countries’ generally weaker currency position against the US dollar. 

In South-east Asia, Bangkok is the second most expensive after Singapore, and Johor Bahru is the least so. 

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Mercer’s 2023 survey was conducted in March 2023 and covered 227 cities from five continents, using New York City as a comparison baseline. 

This week, Swiss private bank Julius Baer also published a report that ranked Singapore as the most expensive city for high-net-worth individuals to live well.