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Visualized: The Most (and Least) Expensive Cities to Live In

Published

2 weeks ago

March 1, 2023

Freny Fernandes

Article/Editing:

Avery Koop

Graphics/Design:

Joyce Ma

Infographic showing the Most and Least Expensive Cities in the world

Visualizing The Most (and Least) Expensive Cities to Live In

There are many benefits to living in an iconic city like New York or Singapore, but the amenities and exclusivity can come at a high cost.

Cities become “expensive” due to a variety of factors such as high demand for housing, a concentration of high-paying businesses and industries, and a high standard of living. Additionally, factors such as taxes, transportation costs, and availability of goods and services can also contribute to the overall cost of living in global cities.

The infographic above uses data from EIU to rank the world most and least expensive cities to live in. To make the list, the EIU examines 400+ prices for over 200 products and services in 172 cities, surveying a variety of businesses to track price fluctuations over the last year.

Inflation + Strong Currency = Expensive Cities

If you live in a city where many residents find it challenging to put a roof over their heads , food on their plates, and make ends meet, you live in an expensive city.

But if this inflation is compounded with a strong national currency, you may live in one of the world’s most expensive cities.

Rank	City	Country	Index Score
#1	Singapore	🇸🇬 Singapore	100
#1	New York	🇺🇸 U.S.	100
#3	Tel Aviv	🇮🇱 Israel	99
#4	Hong Kong	🇭🇰 Hong Kong	98
#4	Los Angeles	🇺🇸 U.S.	98
#6	Zurich	🇨🇭 Switzerland	94
#7	Geneva	🇨🇭 Switzerland	91
#8	San Francisco	🇺🇸 U.S.	85
#9	Paris	🇫🇷 France	84
#10	Copenhagen	🇩🇰 Denmark	83

Singapore and New York City tied for the first rank amongst the world’s most expensive cities in 2022, pushing Israel’s Tel Aviv from the first place in 2021 to the third place in 2022. Both these cities had high inflation and a strong currency. Surprisingly, this is the Big Apple’s first time atop the ranking.

The city with one of the most expensive real estate markets worldwide, Hong Kong ranked fourth in this list, followed by Los Angeles, which moved up from its ninth rank in 2021.

Poor Economies = Cheaper Cities

Asia continues to dominate the list of the world’s least expensive cities, followed by parts of North Africa and the Middle East. Though affordability sounds good at face value, sitting at the bottom of the ranking isn’t necessarily a coveted position.

While the cost of living in some of the cities in these nations is low, it comes at the price of a weak currency, poor economy, and, in many cases, political and economic turmoil.

Rank	City	Country	Index Score
#161	Colombo	🇱🇰 Sri Lanka	38
#161	Bangalore	🇮🇳 India	38
#161	Algiers	🇩🇿 Algeria	38
#164	Chennai	🇮🇳 India	37
#165	Ahmedabad	🇮🇳 India	35
#166	Almaty	🇰🇿 Kazakhstan	34
#167	Karachi	🇵🇰 Pakistan	32
#168	Tashkent	🇺🇿 Uzbekistan	31
#169	Tunis	🇹🇳 Tunisia	30
#170	Tehran	🇮🇷 Iran	23
#171	Tripoli	🇱🇾 Libya	22
#172	Dasmascus	🇸🇾 Syria	11

The decade-long conflict in Syria weakened the Syrian pound, led to a spiraling inflation and fuel shortages, and further collapsed its economy. It’s no surprise that its capital city of Damascus has maintained its position as the world’s cheapest city.

Tripoli and Tehran, the capitals of Libya and Iran, respectively, follow next on this list, reflecting their weakened economies .

Meanwhile, seven cities in Asia with the common denominator of high-income inequality and low wages dominate the list of the world’s cheapest cities. These include three Indian cities, Tashkent in Uzbekistan, Almaty in Kazakhstan, Pakistan’s most populous city of Karachi, and Sri Lankan capital–Colombo.

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Ranked: Who Are the Richest People in Africa?

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Ranked: Who Are the Richest People in Africa?

This infographic ranks the wealthiest 15 billionaires on the African continent.

Published

7 days ago

March 6, 2023

Pallavi Rao

This graphic ranks the richest people in Africa. Aliko Dangote from Nigeria leads the group.

Ranked: Who Are the Richest People in Africa?

The African continent is home to 46 billionaires, the second-lowest total of any global region.

The number of wealthy individuals in Africa is growing, however. Total private wealth is expected to rise 30% over the next decade, led by growth in the billionaire and millionaire segments.

Visualized here are Africa’s richest, using data collected by Forbes , on billionaires who reside on the continent and have their primary business there.

Breaking Down Africa’s Billionaires

The richest man in Africa is also the richest Black man in the world. Once a small sugar trader, Aliko Dangote now has a net worth of $13.5 billion. He is the 86th richest person in the world, and single-handedly makes up 25% of the total wealth of African billionaires.

His company, the Dangote Group is now an African conglomerate with interests in a range of sectors, including sugar, cement, and real estate.

Rank	Name	Net Worth (billions, USD)	Industry	Citizenship
1	Aliko Dangote	$13.5	Manufacturing	🇳🇬 Nigeria
2	Johann Rupert & family	$10.7	Fashion & Retail	🇿🇦 South Africa
3	Nicky Oppenheimer & family	$8.4	Metals & mining	🇿🇦 South Africa
4	Abdulsamad Rabiu	$7.6	Diversified	🇳🇬 Nigeria
5	Nassef Sawiris	$7.3	Construction & Engineering	🇪🇬 Egypt
6	Mike Adenuga	$6.3	Diversified	🇳🇬 Nigeria
7	Issad Rebrab & family	$4.6	Food & Beverage	🇩🇿 Algeria
8	Naguib Sawiris	$3.3	Telecom	🇪🇬 Egypt
9	Patrice Motsepe	$3.2	Metals & mining	🇿🇦 South Africa
10	Mohamed Mansour	$2.9	Diversified	🇪🇬 Egypt
11	Koos Bekker	$2.6	Media & Entertainment	🇿🇦 South Africa
12	Strive Masiyiwa	$1.9	Telecom	🇿🇼 Zimbabwe
13	Mohammed Dewji	$1.5	Diversified	🇹🇿 Tanzania
13	Aziz Akhannouch & family	$1.5	Diversified	🇲🇦 Morocco
13	Youssef Mansour	$1.5	Diversified	🇪🇬 Egypt

The top three—Alike Dangote, Johann Rupert, and Nicky Oppenheimer—account for 40% of the total wealth of those ranked.

A Look Through the Rest of the Richest People in Africa

At number two on the list is Johann Rupert . The chairman of Swiss luxury goods company, Compagnie Financiere Richemont, started his career with a banking apprenticeship in New York, before returning to South Africa and eventually pivoting to retail.

Through the rest of those ranked, a range of diverse business activities have allowed these billionaires to garner their wealth.

Nicky Oppenheimer (3rd) and Patrice Motsepe (9th)—have made fortunes in the mining industry, a sector which contributes nearly 10% to sub-Saharan Africa’s GDP. Meanwhile, Naguib Sawiris (8th) and Strive Masiyiwa (12th) have built telecom empires.

Billionaire Wealth Mirrors Country Wealth

Only seven out of the 54 African countries are represented on Africa’s rich list, and even amongst them, three countries (Egypt, South Africa, and Nigeria) account for more than two-thirds of the top-ranked billionaires.

Country	Rank in African Economy	Individuals on Top 15 Billionaire List
🇳🇬 Nigeria	#1	3
🇿🇦 South Africa	#2	4
🇪🇬 Egypt	#3	4

The home countries for these billionaires reflects the nations’ contribution to the African economy as a whole. Nigeria, South Africa, and Egypt have the top three GDPs in Africa.

Algeria—where Issad Rebrab (7th) is from—is ranked fourth, and Morocco—where Aziz Akhannouch (13th) is based—is fifth.

What’s Next For Africa’s Richest?

Africa has routinely been touted to become a future economic powerhouse as its demographic dividend pays off in the next few decades. However, its biggest challenge will be developing its economic and social infrastructure to retain local talent to make their fortunes at home.

Where does this data come from?

Source: Forbes.

Data note: Forbes calculated net worths using stock prices and currency exchange rates from the close of business on Friday, January 13, 2023. For privately held businesses, they used estimates of revenues or profits and applied prevailing price-to-sale or price-to-earnings ratios for similar public companies. Some list members grew richer or poorer within weeks or days of their measurement date.