Moscow remains at #4 globally and at #1 in Europe, according to Mercer’s recent poll.

Prior to 2010, Moscow was the leader in the rating for a number of successive years. St.Petersburg is #28 in 2012, up from #29 last year and #30 in 2010.

This year’s #3 is Osaka, up three places, versus last year’s #3 Ndjamena (Chad), now at #8. The last city in the Top 5 is Geneva, same as last year.

Many European cities have become cheaper to live in due to the Eurozone economic crisis, say experts. Paris is down to #37, losing a whole ten positions. Rome is down 8 positions at #42.

Athens crashed from #24 to #77, while London moved from #18 to #25.

At the same time, many North American cities, particularly in the USA, went up in the rating, reflecting the strengthening of the US dollar vs many world currencies. Los Angeles is up 9 points to # 68, San Francisco - up 16 points to #90. New York has become slightly cheaper for foreigners down from #32 to #33.

However, the longest leap was taken by Australia and New Zealand, as their currencies became stronger in the past months. Sydney (#11) and Melbourne (#15) are up 3 and 6 points respectively. NZ’s Oakland and Wellington are up a substantial 62 points to #56 and #74.

The most expensive cities in Latin America for foreign professionals are Sao Paolo and Rio de Janeiro, #12 and #13 respectively.

The cheapest city for foreigners is, same as last year, Karachi in Pakistan, three times less expensive than Tokyo.

Mercer’s assessment of the cost of living in 214 major world cities is based on some 200 parameters. Cities moving up or down reflects primarily the sovereign currency’s dynamic versus the US dollar in the past 12 months and the price index dynamic for the same period versus New York, taken as basis. The data in the latest poll is for March 2011.

Mercer data is expected to be taken into account by multinationals in their choice of maximum workforce density locations and in calculating the compensation amount for foreign professionals.

Project Group №5