Europe is home to some of the most expensive cities in the world in 2019 — where are they?

Europe is home to some of the most expensive cities in the world in 2019 — where are they?
By Emma Beswick
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The city jumped six places in two years, which the report's author told Euronews was "not surprising".

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Paris has been given the title of the world’s most expensive city along with Singapore and Hong Kong, according to The Economist Intelligence Unit's (EIU) 2019 Worldwide Cost of Living Survey.

It is "not surprising" that the French capital was high up in the ranking as it has been in the top 10 since 2003, report author Roxana Slavcheva told Euronews.

However, the fact that the city had jumped six places in two years was "not insignificant".

The EIU considers and compares the average cost of more than 160 items — from food, toiletries and clothing, to domestic help, transport, and utility bills — in 133 cities across 93 countries.

"While Paris offers value for money on things like alcohol, transport and tobacco, categories like personal care, recreation and entertainment, as well as household supplies tend to be the highest costs in European cities and Paris is not an exception here," Slavcheva added.

London and Manchester, the two UK surveys included in the index, fell significantly in 2017 after the country's Brexit referendum, and only ranked higher up in 2018 and 2019 respectively due to other cities scoring lower than in previous years.

"Cities in the UK are becoming relatively more expensive for domestic consumers but they are becoming cheaper for foreigners because of the weakness of the pound," said Slavcheva.

Currency volatility has caused in Istanbul in Turkey to fall 48 places since 2018, Moscow to fall 16 and Saint Petersburg to fall 14.

"The sheer impact of spiralling high inflation in these countries on the cost of living has been impressive," the report's author said.

None of the European cities analysed fell in the top five cheapest cities of 2019, which included Caracas in Venezuela, Damascus in Syria, Tashkent in Uzbekistan, Almaty in Kazakhstan, and Bangalore in India.

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