Which countries have low consumption levels?

World consumption level ranking: Beijing ranks fourth in Asia, second only to Hong Kong.

2003 World Cost of Living Survey-City Ranking

Tokyo and Moscow are the cities with the highest price level in the world; Asunció n in Paraguay is the lowest.

London, Copenhagen and Milan are the cities with the highest price levels in the EU.

Due to the appreciation of European currencies against the US dollar, European cities rose rapidly in the rankings.

According to the latest cost of living survey by Mercer Human Resources Consulting, Tokyo has replaced Hong Kong as the city with the highest price level in the world. Moscow ranked second, followed by Osaka, up three places from last year. Paraguay's currency depreciated against the US dollar, and Asunció n replaced Johannesburg as the city with the lowest price level in the survey.

If new york is set as the benchmark city with a score of 100, Tokyo will get a score of 126. 1 min, and its price level is almost 3.5 times that of Asunció n, with a score of 36.5.

The survey results show that the gap between the cities with the highest price level and the cities with the lowest price level in the world is narrowing. This year's score gap has decreased by 4 percentage points compared with last year. However, compared with last year's 15%, this trend has eased.

As a senior researcher at Mercer Consulting, Yvonne Traber said, "The changes in the global economic environment this year have a great impact on the cost of living index. The depreciation of the dollar against the euro, high inflation in many countries and economic depression have all changed the scores of many cities.

This survey covers 144 cities around the world, and measures the comparative prices of more than 200 commodities in each region, including housing, food, clothes, household goods, transportation and entertainment. These data are helpful for multinational companies to decide the wages and subsidies of employees sent to other countries.

Europe

In Europe, Moscow, Geneva and London are the cities with the highest price levels, with scores of 1 14.5,10/0/0.8 and10/0.3 respectively. Zurich (100.3), St. Petersburg (97.3) and Oslo (92.7) are second only to the above cities.

In the EU, London is the city with the highest price level, rising three places in the global ranking and ranking seventh (10 1.3 points). Compared with other cities in the European Union, London's housing, transportation costs and tariffs on goods such as tobacco and alcohol are particularly high, which makes London's score rise.

After London, Copenhagen is the second most expensive city in the EU, rising from 62 last year to 15(89.4 points). Other cities with high scores include Milan (87.2 points) 17, Dublin (86 points) 2 1, and Paris (84.3 points) 23.

Ms. Traber said, "The strength of the euro has pushed up the prices of EU cities, making the consumption of overseas tourists more expensive."

United States of America

New york is still the city with the highest price level in North America, ranking 10. Other cities with higher prices include Los Angeles (85.6 points), Chicago (83.9 points), Miami (83.7 points) and San Francisco (83 points). Due to the depreciation of the US dollar against the euro and Asian currencies, the rankings of all American cities surveyed have declined.

The price level of Canadian cities is relatively low, and none of the cities surveyed appears in the 100 cities with the highest price level in the world. Toronto and Vancouver were ranked at 104 (64.9 points) and 1 10 (63.2 points), respectively, maintaining last year's ranking. Ottawa is the city with the lowest price level in Canada, ranking 127 in the survey with a score of 57.2.

Latin America has been hit by economic and political turmoil this year. The spread of the economic crisis in Argentina devalued the local currency, leading to high inflation in neighboring countries. Montevideo, Bogota and Asunció n are the cities with the lowest price level. Their scores were 46.5, 44, 43.9 and 36.5 respectively.

The political uncertainty in Brazil, especially the presidential election, led to the devaluation of the real, which caused the cost of living in S? o Paulo and Rio de Janeiro to plummet from the 98th and 99th places to136th and137th places respectively. Lima, Peru replaced Caracas as the city with the highest price level in South America, ranking108 with 63.4 points; San Juan, Puerto Rico is the city with the lowest price level in Central America, ranking 43rd (78.4 points).

Asia and the Pacific region

Half of the top 20 cities with the highest consumption level in the world are in Asia. Tokyo ranks first, Osaka ranks third (1 12.2), followed by Hong Kong (11.6) and Beijing (105. 1). Although Japan has been in recession for four consecutive years, the appreciation of the yen against the US dollar has made Japanese cities among the cities with the highest price level in the world.

Globally, although Auckland and Wellington have risen 25 places in the ranking, ranking 1 15 and 1 17 respectively, urban housing prices in New Zealand and Australia are still relatively low. In Australia, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth ranked 1 1, 12 1, 124 and 126 respectively. Sydney ranks 67th with 73.7 points, and it is the only region in Australia that ranks among the cities with high housing prices in the world 100. Although their consumption index has increased this year, it has not stopped these cities from ranking among the cities with the highest quality of life in the world.