For companies, sending an employee to live abroad is as much a strategic choice as cornelian. Expatriation also has a cost that varies greatly according to the country… ECA International, which specializes in the mobility international has established a classification. Explanations.

the Conquest of new markets, perform advisory missions abroad, explore unknown areas… Here are a few good reasons to emigrate. But from Tokyo to New York by way of Moscow, or Luanda, the cost of living is far from being the same according to the cities. How the caculer ? “We study a market-basket, representative of approximately 125 items,” says Nelly Le Breton Drnovsky, Business Development Manager of ECA International. Are priced and weighted in function of the nationality, which allows us to quantify the actual fuel consumption of the expatriates based on the cost of products in the town he lives in.”

On this basis, it is not useless to specify that Paris is less expensive than some African cities such as Lagos in Nigeria, or Juba in South Sudan. Logically, the cost of consumer goods imported in france is lower than in Africa. According to the study conducted by ECA International, the former capital of Nigeria and a significant jump in the ranking of world cities most expensive (see tables below) from the 84th place in the 38th place of the most expensive cities in the world for expatriates. Same thing for the capital of South Sudan, which rose from 60th to 14th in the world ranking, mainly because of the high inflation which plagued the country since its independence in July 2011.

Vancouver more expensive than New York !

These two examples break them only the prejudices about the cost of living. This is not because a country is developing, that it is cheap. Oslo (3rd), Luanda (4th), Caracas (7th), but also Kinshasa (19th), Libreville (30th) or Baku (39th) are cities more expensive than some european capitals, such as Paris (42nd), London (58th), or Madrid (105th).

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To the two extremes of the classification, it is no surprise that Tokyo, a city with the most unaffordable in the world. Chisinau, capital of Moldova, is the least expensive ( 223ème city in the world ranking). If Japan in its entirety in a decline in the cost of living in 2012, the asian cities have made progress in the whole.

For the second year in a row, Vancouver (35th) is the leading North American cities. She came in ahead of New York (36th). According to ECA International, ” the strengthening of the dollar relative to other currencies, says all u.s. cities studied have risen in the rankings over the last 12 months “. It should be noted that in Brazil, the situation is reversed. Rio de Janeiro (64th) and Sao Paulo (69th) have lost more than 40 places in one year, “” given the weakness of the real against the u.s. dollar and other currencies “.

The cards should be rebattues next year. Latin America should be one of the areas where wages will be the most increase in 2013 (+12.2 per cent !). These are going to truly soar in Venezuela (+28,1%)… where the inflation is also expected to reach a new record (+28.9 percent).

* Methodology

The study of ECA International is made from a medium basket consisting of consumer goods and services commonly consumed by expatriates. The study compares the level of prices in over 400 cities and locations in the world. The cost of living for expats varies according to inflation, availability of goods and exchange rates, all of these factors can have a significant impact on the level of those premiums. Some costs, such as for example those relating to housing, transport and schooling of children, are not taken into account in this study.