Dublin is world's 13th dearest city - survey

Dublin has moved up one place to become the 13th most expensive city in the world, according to the annual Mercer Worldwide Cost of Living Survey.

It shares the 13th slot with New York, the most expensive city in North America.

In Europe, Dublin is the eighth most expensive city and the fourth most expensive capital, according to the survey. London, Copenhagen, and Paris are the three European capitals that were found to be more expensive.

For the purposes of the survey, New York was given a base city scoring of 100 points and other cities measured against this. Dublin was ranked as being on a par with New York.

The most expensive city in the world was found to be Tokyo, followed by Osaka, London and Moscow. The least expensive city in the world was found to be Asuncion in Paraguay.

The annual survey covers 144 cities and measures the cost of items such as housing, transport and food. It is used by governments and multinational companies to determine the appropriate allowances they should pay expatriate employees.

Currency fluctuations and exchange rate changes have a huge impact on what expatriates can buy with their money, according to Lorna Byrne, senior consultant at Mercer.

"While there has been significant investment by multinationals in traditionally low-cost countries, the gap appears to be closing and local salaries are shooting up as a result of higher expenses and an increasing demand for skills," she said.

London dropped one place this year, scoring 120.3, with accommodation and transport costs, together with the appreciation of the pound against the dollar, contributing to its high ranking.

By comparison in the UK, Glasgow came in 40th position and Birmingham in 47th.

Among the nations that have recently joined the EU, Budapest emerged as the costliest, scoring 93.3 and ranking 24th in the world league.

"Many cities in the new EU accession countries have risen sharply in ranking this year as they make strides to bring their economic infrastructure up to EU standards. Central and eastern Europe are becoming increasingly attractive for multinational companies," said Ms Byrne.

Warsaw, Prague and Bratislava have all risen in the rankings by more than 10 places.

Bucharest in Romania (71.4) and Limassol in Cyprus (71.9) were the cheapest cities in Europe.

Cities in South America remain among the cheapest in the survey. As well as Asuncion, the survey got low results for Buenos Aires, Montevideo and Caracas, which all scored in the low 50s.