Moscow dropped 105 places in the list of the most expensive cities in the world

Singapore and Zurich lead the ranking

CNN Travel has listed the most expensive cities in the world in 2023. Since last year, this rating has undergone significant changes. Thus, in 2022, New York shared first place with Singapore. However, now Swiss Zurich has shifted America’s financial center. Moscow and St. Petersburg seriously lost ground, falling to 142 and 147 places, respectively.

The city-state of Singapore and Switzerland’s Zurich have been named the world’s most expensive cities in 2023. The latter has risen from sixth place since last year. This rise was explained by the strong Swiss franc, as well as high prices for food, household goods and leisure. The high cost of transport and clothing in Singapore was also noted.

While New York shared top spot with Singapore last year, the popular US destination, where prices rose 1.9%, according to the study, fell to third place, tied with Switzerland’s Geneva.

Hong Kong took fifth place, Los Angeles came in sixth, and the “city of love” Paris took seventh place.

Israeli Tel Aviv shares eighth place with Danish Copenhagen. However, it is worth noting that the survey was conducted before the conflict between Israel and Hamas. San Francisco took tenth place.

If you believe the rating, the sharpest drop was felt by Moscow and St. Petersburg (which is probably not bad from the point of view of residents). According to CNN Travel, the Russian capital fell to 142nd place (a drop of 105 points), and the cultural capital of Russia took 147th place (a drop of 74 positions).

The study said a slow recovery from the pandemic and “subdued consumer demand” were among the factors that saw Chinese cities (such as Beijing, which ranked 34th last year) slip several places down the list.

Damascus (Syria) remains the cheapest city in the world. Tehran (Iran) and Tripoli (Libya) are also at the bottom of the ranking, ranking 172nd and 171st respectively.

Costs for utilities, domestic help and tobacco products were highest in American cities. At the same time, Western European cities were among the most expensive when it came to holidays, transport and household goods.

According to the survey, food and alcohol were the most expensive in Asian cities. Venezuelan Caracas, where prices have jumped by 450% since 2022, was excluded from the list.