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Karachi ranked as world's cheapest city: Study
A survey by the Mercer group ranked Tokyo as most expensive, study uses New York as a reference.
Karachi is least expensive city in the world. PHOTO: EXPRESS/MOHAMMAD NOMAN
PARIS: Tokyo has regained the unenviable title of the world’s most expensive city for expatriates while Pakistani port Karachi has ranked as the least expensive city, according to a survey by the Mercer group, with living costs around three times cheaper than in the Japanese capital.
The eurozone crisis has made many European cities cheaper according to the survey published on Tuesday.
The report, published annually to help companies assess compensation allowances for expatriate workers, compared the cost of over 200 items in 214 cities, using New York as a reference. The items on the list included housing, food and transport.
Tokyo pushed the oil-boom Angolan capital Luanda into second place to retake the top spot in the survey. Another Japanese city, Osaka, came third, the Russian capital Moscow in fourth, and Geneva fifth.
Cities in the eurozone slid in the rankings as the euro has slid against the US dollar during the debt crisis. Paris dropped 10 spots to 37th, Rome fell eight to 42nd, and Athens tumbled 24 to 77th.
London slipped from 18th in the table last year down to 25th place.
In contrast, appreciation against the US dollar helped push Australian and New Zealand cities up, with Adelaide jumping 19 spots to 27th.
Earlier in February Karachi had been ranked the cheapest city in the world, for the second year running, according to a report published in The Wall Street Journal.
Pakistan’s biggest city landed up at the bottom of the index for the Economist Intelligence Unit’s world-wide cost-of-living survey.
The city came in 131st out of 131 cities, maintaining last year’s position.
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Life is also cheap there
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we love to rejoice being at the bottom of every list.. it perfectly fits our global profile.
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Karachi ranked as world’s cheapest city, Truly yeah! with ‘life’ being the cheapest commodity!
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I think its good for khi and other work seekers that come into in from up country but by the way report suggests its a feat not be proud .Why is that so?
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Everyone loves cheap :)
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Yeaaaaaaaa Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight!!!!
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I pray that some day karachi will be at the bottom of the list of the most dangerous cities of the world
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Cheap is good! no?..NoOne sleeps on roads this way, noOne sleeps hungry! :)
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Instead of simply focussing on the cost (of 200 items, as listed here); the report should assess the cost of living as a ratio of income to expenditure.
I’m sure they’ll find that Karachi isn’t the cheapest (I’m not saying it’s among the most expensive).
Also, the overall list is slightly mis-leading since real-estate prices aren’t factored into the survey.
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@khan:
It is a good thing it is cheap, that is why it is at bottom. Don’t twist it to malign Karachi.
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i think it is not a bad thing….
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Its not bad acutaly, infact good for locals and expats.
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Please correct the title, its not the cheapest city, it is the least expensive city. Means it is still expensive:-)
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Thank you “President” Zardari. :)
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Well where talk is the only thing that happens the place has to be cheap
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Karachi Karachi Hai yaar!!!
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Karachi is our city…..we love it whether cheapest or most expensive
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Life is also very CHEAP In Khi…. Another milestone delivered by our SO CALLED DEMOCRATIC GOVT….
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now foreigners will flock to Karachi
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I hope this survey will enforce the investors to establish businesses and that will create new jobs for the citizens of Karachi
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Think about those people who’re not able to make their living in this cheap city even, how behind they are from poverty line!!
We can start chain of ‘sasta khana’ scheme citywide without govt. help if we just decide once!
I am starting it
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May Allah by Praised! Jazakallah.
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The survey is a little misleading if you read it as saying that living in Karachi is ‘cheap’ of ‘everyone’. The survey is about the cost of living for ‘expats’.
Anyhow, the only thing that’s cheap in Karachi is life! We hear and read of multiple people getting killed by ‘unknown gunmen’ everyday, that’s not usual in any other mega city of the world.
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I don’t get it. :[
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It is cheap in more ways than one.
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A big achievement of democracy.
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i’ disagreed!!!!!
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Whatever be the case, whether you are in Tokyo, Delhi or Karachi a poor guy suffers. A person who has to toil for a square meal, doesn’t know whether he is living in the world’s cheapest or the costliest city. All he knows is to feed himself and his family. In South Asia, the economic divide is so much that the rich has all the money and perks, whereas the poor is becoming poorer day by day. Without making an issue about how cheap and how costly our cities are, our govt. should join and take collective measures about economic development of our countries. South Asia esp. India and Pakistan are places with lot of opportunities. But due to the infighting we are unable to harness our resources properly. We need to forget the past and look forward to work collectively for a better future of our region, which is the need of the time. We should strive to get our cities and countries towards the richest spot. Only if our countries’ able administration takes the initiative.
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