According to the latest Worldwide Cost of Living Survey from the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), Tel Aviv is now the most expensive city in the world. The new change was made by the challenges of the pandemic, affecting the industry’s supply chain, exchange-rate shifts, and changing consumer demand. 

EIU’s Worldwide Cost of Living is a twice-yearly survey that compares more than 400 individual prices across over 200 products and services in 173 cities. The data were collected between August 16 and September 12, 2021, when US-China shipping prices had risen sharply, resulting in higher prices for goods. 

Tel Aviv, Israel is on top of the chart due to the shekel’s soaring currency and price spikes in one-tenth of the city’s goods led by groceries and transport. The current rankings are dominated by European and developed Asian cities, while the cheapest cities are mainly coming in from the Middle East and Africa, as well as developing parts of Asia.

According to the EIU, with the world currently shifting and adjusting to the ongoing pandemic, the uncertainties of the past year mean that there is no clear regional pattern to ranking movements of the most expensive cities, and we may still expect to see the cost of living rise further in many cities in the coming year.

According to timeout