Muscat ranks second most affordable city in the GCC

Muscat: Oman’s capital city is among the most affordable GCC cities to live in, according to a newly released report.

In the Worldwide Cost of Living 2017 Index, 133 cities were surveyed to rank them in order of most expensive cost of living. Muscat ranks 103rd, along with Saudi Arabia cities Al Khobar and Jeddah.

In the GCC, Abu Dhabi and Dubai rank as most expensive at 62nd on the list. Bahrain trails behind at 86th, followed by Kuwait City and Doha at 99th. The cheapest GCC city however is Riyadh at 112th.

At number one, the most expensive city in the world to live in is Singapore, for the fourth year in a row. Clocking in at 2nd is Hong Kong, and 3rd is the city of Zurich. The major Asian cities Tokyo, Osaka, and Seoul rank 4th, 5th, and 6th, respectively. Asia therefore hosts 5 of the 6 most expensive cities in the world.

On the other hand, European cities have seen a decline in costs of living. Over a decade ago, eight of the ten most expensive cities were in Europe, whereas the continent only accounts for four today: Zurich, Geneva, Paris, and Copenhagen.

At 9th, New York is the only American city to be on the top ten most expensive, though Los Angeles follows closely at 11th. The next most expensive city in the US is Minneapolis, at 25th. Chicago and D.C. rank equally expensive at 27th.

Though Asia is home to the most expensive cities in the world, the cheapest cities in the world are also located in the continent. Cities such as New Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai, Karachi and Bangalore rank as some of the cheapest countries on the list. The city of Almaty, Kazakhstan is the most affordable city in the world, at 133rd.

The African continent is also home to some of the cheapest cities in the world, such as Johannesburg, Pretoria, Algiers, and Lusaka. The most affordable African city is Laagos, Nigeria. At 132nd, it is only one country shy of being cheapest worldwide. At 75th, Nairobi is the most expensive city in Africa.

The survey compared the prices of 160 goods and services in 133 cities around the world, and is primarily used by human resources managers to calculate compensation packages for overseas postings.