Seoul ranked 5th in living cost: Economist

For last year, Seoul was ranked fifth among 133 international cities in terms of cost of living. The world's most expensive city to live in was Tokyo; the same as in 1999, while the city with the lowest cost of living was Teheran.

According to a report released on Nov. 18 by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), an affiliate of the British weekly The Economist, Seoul jumped from 24th in 1999 to number five. Osaka and Kobe in Japan were ranked joint second followed by Hong Kong at fourth with Seoul and Taipei ranking joint fifth. The strength of the U.S. dollar and the Japanese yen caused the surge in the rankings of Far East Asian nations. Ranked third was Belgrade, capital of Yugoslavia, which saw a significant jump from 86th in 1999 owing to side effects from the Kosovo war.

On the other hand, major European cities dropped in the rankings owing to the weak euro. Paris, which ranked eighth in 1999, fell to 25th, takes it out of the top ten. The only euro bloc nation in the top ten was Lisbon, Portugal at ninth. Of the European nations not using the euro, the capitals of the U.K. and Norway, London and Oslo, were ranked joint eighth.

New York was ranked seventh and the cheapest city to live in Europe was Budapest in Hungary.

claire@donga.com