Tel Aviv Is The Most Expensive City In The World In 2021 – Report

It’s no secret that the city of Tel Aviv has been known for its high cost of living, with residents still protesting the soaring housing costs, electricity, telephone, high cost of groceries, water bills, and other social justice issues, as they did back in 2011.

This week, the White City has been named the most expensive city in the world, according to the 2021 Worldwide Cost of Living index, which was released early Wednesday by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) Tel Aviv climbed five spots to take first place this year. Last year, the city tied for fifth place with Osaka, Japan. In 2020, the cities of Paris (France), Zurich (Switzerland), and Hong Kong tied for first place.

“The Israeli city of Tel Aviv topped the rankings for the first time, overtaking last year’s leader Paris, which is now tied in second place with Singapore,” CNN Travel’s Maureen O’Hare wrote about the ranking, “The EIU attributes Tel Aviv’s sharp rise on the index to increases to grocery and transport prices and the strength of the Israeli shekel against the US dollar.”

The EIU examined the cost of a basket of 200 basic products and services in 173 global cities, which is 40 more cities than the previous year. The benchmark for comparison is prices in New York, which is why cities with currencies that are stronger against the US dollar are likely to appear higher in the ranking.

In this year’s report, Paris and Singapore tied for second place, followed by Zurich and Hong Kong in fourth and fifth place. New York (USA) was in sixth place and Geneva (Switzerland) was in seventh. Copenhagen (Denmark), Los Angeles (California, USA), and Osaka (Japan) rounded out the top 10 most expensive cities in the report.

Data for the survey has been carried out for more than three decades, CNN Travel reported. It is gathered by EIU’s global team of researchers each March and September.

The EIU reported that prices for goods and services covered by the index rose 3.5 percent on average, year-on-year in local currency terms, compared with an increase of 1.9 percent at this time last year. The report said that global supply-chain problems and the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as social restrictions, contributed to rising prices and continue to affect production and trade around the world.

According to the report, the highest-rising city in 2021 was the Iranian capital of Tehran, which jumped 50 places from the 79th spot to 29th place. Damascus (Syria) is again the cheapest city in the world.