Islamabad, Karachi named world’s least expensive cities, shows latest ranking

Pakistan’s capital city of Islamabad and southern port city of Karachi have been ranked least expensive cities in the world, according to a survey compiled by an international firm named Mercer.

“Hong Kong once again tops our Cost of Living City Ranking. It is 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 company said in its blog.

It said the key factors that have shaped the world’s economy in 2022 will continue to exert an influence into 2023. More than a year after the escalation of the Russia-Ukraine crisis and the emergence of more contagious COVID-19 variants, many economies are still absorbing the shocks produced by these events.

This year, only two out of 10 of the most expensive cities for international assignees to live in are located in Asia, compared to four last year. However, these cities top the ranking, with Hong Kong ranked first, followed by Singapore (2). The two least expensive locations in the world are also Asian cities — Karachi (226) and Islamabad (227).

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.