Most expensive cities in the world for 2008

Research and consulting firm Mercer published its 2008 report of the top 50 most expensive cities in the world today. The survey covers 143 cities across six continents and measures the comparative cost of over 200 items in each location, including housing, transport, food, clothing, household goods and entertainment.

According to the survey, Moscow is still the most expensive city for expatriates, followed by Tokyo, London, Oslo, Hong Kong and others. I'm not that surprised to see Prague (the capital of Czech Republic) at #29 and Bratislava (the capital of Slovakia) at #45. The prices of real estate and cost of living in both Prague and Bratislava have been rising like crazy in last few years.

But wait! New York City at No. 22? Really?

Mercer's 2008 Cost of Living survey highlights [mercer.com]