The Japanese cities of Tokyo and Osaka have retained their rankings as the most expensive in the world, a survey has found.
The Norwegian capital of Oslo has overtaken Hong Kong as the third most expensive city, according to the "Worldwide Cost of Living Survey" by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) released today.
Dublin was ranked 39th in the list alongside Boston and Tel Aviv.
Hong Kong and Libreville, Gabon, were tied for fourth place. It did not specify why the latter was so expensive. London dropped to seventh in December 2002 from fifth a year earlier but remained the costliest city in the European Union.
The comparative cost of living in all euro zone cities rose in the past year as the euro strengthened and as prices were hiked during the switch to euro notes and coins.
Paris, which was ranked 10th in the world, remained the most expensive city in the euro zone. In Europe as a whole, Bucharest was the cheapest at number 120 on the list.
New York was the costliest North American city, ranked 11th in the world but down one notch from a year earlier.
In places such as Harare, Zimbabwe, and Buenos Aires in Argentina, political and economic turmoil have caused a sharp drop in the cost of living. Harare was named the cheapest city, while Buenos Aires saw its ranking fall to 130th from 21st.