Vancouver is the still most expensive Canadian city for expatriates to live in, but is dropping down the rankings compared with other global cities, according to Mercer's 2014 Cost of Living City Rankings Survey.
The city was ranked higher than Toronto for the second year running. Montreal and Calgary were ranked the third and fourth most expensive Canadian cities.
However, compared with other cities globally, Canadian cities have dropped down the rankings significantly, likely because of the softening of the Canadian dollar and relatively slow price increases compared with New York, the survey's base city.
Vancouver still made the top 100 most expensive global cities for expats, being ranked in 96th place overall but this is a drop of 32 places compared with Mercer's 2013 survey. Toronto was ranked 101st, down 33 places. Montreal fell to 123rd and Calgary dropped to 125th.
The annual survey ranks the most expensive cities for expatriates around the world, measuring the comparative cost of over 200 items frequently purchased by expatriates in each location, including housing, transportation, food, clothing, household goods and entertainment.
The world's two most expensive cities for expats to live in are both in Africa. Ranked in first place for the second year running is Luanda in Angola, followed by N'Djamena in Chad.
"Rankings in many regions were affected by recent world events, including economic and political upheavals, which resulted in currency fluctuations, cost inflation for goods and services, and volatility in accommodation prices," said Ed Hannibal, partner and global leader for Mercer's Mobility practice.
"While Luanda and N'Djamena are relatively inexpensive cities, they are quite costly for expatriates since imported goods come at a premium. In addition, finding secure living accommodations that meet the standards of expatriates can be challenging and quite costly as well. This is generally why some African cities rank high in our survey."
Hong Kong was ranked third, Singapore fourth and Zurich rose three spots to rank in fifth place.
Karachi, Pakistan, was the most affordable city for expatriates of the 211 global cities ranked.
For the full survey, click here.
