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Mercer’s Cost of Living Survey: Bucharest ranks 181st among the most expensive cities
Bucharest drops nine positions, ranking 181st in Mercer’s annual Cost of Living Survey about the most expensive locations for working abroad.
Compared to the cities in neighboring countries present in the top, Bucharest is cheaper than Budapest (176) and Kiev (163) and more expensive than Sofia (184) and Belgrade (198), the study shows.
As a result, multinational organizations are carefully assessing the cost of expatriate packages for their international assignees. Mercer’s 23rd annual Cost of Living Survey finds that factors like instability of housing markets and inflation for goods and services contribute to the overall cost of doing business in today’s global environment.
Mercer’s 2017 Cost of Living Survey finds Asian and European cities – particularly Hong Kong (2), Tokyo (3), Zurich (4), and Singapore (5) – top the list of most expensive cities for expatriates. The costliest city, driven by cost of goods and security, is Luanda (1), the capital of Angola. Other cities appearing in the top 10 of Mercer’s costliest cities for expatriates are Seoul (6), Geneva (7), Shanghai (8), New York City (9), and Bern (10). The world’s least expensive cities for expatriates, according to Mercer’s survey, are Tunis (209), Bishkek (208), and Skopje (206).
Thus, only three European cities remain in the top 10 list of most expensive cities for expatriates. Zurich (4) is still the most costly European city on the list, followed by Geneva (7) and Bern (10).
Mercer’s authoritative survey is one of the world’s most comprehensive, and is designed to help multinational companies and governments determine compensation allowances for their expatriate employees. New York is used as the base city and all cities are compared against it.
The survey includes over 400 cities across five continents and measures the comparative cost of more than 200 items in each location, including housing, transportation, food, clothing, household goods, and entertainment.