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Cairo Deemed One of Cheapest Cities Worldwide: Survey


Wed 20 Mar 2019 | 01:23 PM
Nawal Sayed

By Nawal Sayed

CAIRO, March 20 (SEE)- While Paris, Singapore and Hong Kong top the world’s most expensive cities’ list for travellers to visit and expatriates to live in, Egypt’s Cairo is found to be one of the cheapest cities in the world.

The Worldwide Cost of Living 2019 report of the by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), released on Tuesday, ranked 133 countries according to the prices of consumer goods and services.

Egypt’s capital Cairo came 125, according to the survey.

Paris, Singapore and Hong Kong, appearing for the first time in the same spot, emerged as the costliest, while Chennai, New Delhi, Bangalore and Karachi were named among the ten cheapest places in the world, with Caracas in Venezuela taking the lead in the bottom ten.

“Paris remains extremely expensive to live in, with only alcohol, transport and tobacco offering value for money compared with the European cities,” the EIU said in its report.

According to the report, it costs a lot more to buy a loaf of bread in Paris than in many other cities, with the same item setting back a consumer $5.66 per kilo, compared to just $1.08 in Chennai or $1.46 in Karachi, some of the cheapest cities to live in.

Haircut prices for women in the French capital average $119.04, compared to $10.46 in Chennai and $29.40 in Karachi.

For men’s two-piece business suit, the average buyer can expect to spend a whopping $2,000.65, which is way above anyone would pay at a tailoring shop or boutique in Chennai and Karachi, at just $173.91 and $515.51, respectively.

The report also noted that cities in Asia tend to be the most expensive places for general grocery shopping, while those in Europe tend to have the highest costs in the household, personal care, recreation and entertainment categories – with Zurich and Geneva the most expensive in these categories.

The most expensive cities in the world

  • Singapore, Singapore
  • Paris, France
  • Hong Kong, China
  • Zurich, Switzerland
  • Geneva, Switzerland
  • Osaka, Japan
  • Seoul, South Korea
  • Copenhagen, Denmark
  • New York, US
  • Tel Aviv, Israel
  • Los Angeles, US
  • The cheapest cities in the world

  • Caracus, Venezuela
  • Damascus, Syria
  • Tashkent, Uzbekistan
  • Almaty, Kazakhstan
  • Bangalore, India
  • Karachi, Pakistan
  • Lagos, Nigeria
  • Buenos Aires, Argentina
  • Chennai, India
  • New Delhi, India