Accra is the 75th expensive city in the world, according to the latest Cost of Living Survey from Mercer Human Resource Consulting, the global leader for HR and related financial advice.
Accra moved from 91st place to 75th position.
Despite the low inflation rates announced by the government, the capital's ranking is believed to have increased significantly due to increasing costs on accommodation, price increases in fuel and consumer goods.
Surprisingly, Ghana's capital is more expensive than major United States cities such as Washington, Houston, Boston and Atlanta. It also beats Canadian cities like Montreal and Ottawa and European cities Hamburg and Lyon.
However, the survey also indicated that Accra is still cheaper than cities including Abidjan(45), Dakar(45) and Lagos(32)
Moscow replaced Tokyo as the world's most expensive city. Seoul, Tokyo and Hong Kong are the 2nd, 3rd and 4th most expensive cities respectively . Asuncion in Paraguay remains the least expensive city in the survey.
Four of the world's ten costliest cities are in Asia. New York remains the most expensive city in North America and climbs three places to 10th position (score 100).
Mercer's survey covers 144 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. It is the world's most comprehensive cost of living survey and is used to help multinational companies and governments determine compensation allowances for their expatriate employees.
It should be noted though, that the survey reflects the cost of living for people living a "Western-style" lifestyle in the cities ranked.
Mercer Human Resource Consulting
Cost of Living Survey -- Worldwide Rankings 2006
Rankings COL IndexDetails: http://www.mercerhr.com/costofliving
03.06 03.05 City Country March '06 March '05
1 4 MOSCOW Russia 123.9 119
2 5 SEOUL South Korea 121.7 115.4
3 1 TOKYO Japan 119.1 134.7
4 9 HONG KONG Hong Kong 116.3 109.5
5 3 LONDON United Kingdom 110.6 120.3
6 2 OSAKA Japan 108.3 121.8
7 6 GENEVA Switzerland 103 113.5
8 8 COPENHAGEN Denmark 101.1 110
9 7 ZURICH Switzerland 100.8 112.1
10 10 OSLO Norway 100 105.3
10 13 NEW YORK CITY United States 100 100
12 15 ST.PETERSBURG Russia 99.7 99.5
13 11 MILAN Italy 96.9 104.9
14 19 BEIJING China 94.9 95.6
15 22 ISTANBUL Turkey 93.1 93.8
15 12 PARIS France 93.1 102.2
17 34 SINGAPORE Singapore 92 88
18 13 DUBLIN Ireland 91.8 100
19 20 SYDNEY Australia 91.3 95.2
20 30 SHANGHAI China 91.2 90.4
21 17 ROME Italy 89.8 97.3
21 54 KIEV Ukraine 89.8 84.5
21 16 VIENNA Austria 89.8 97.8
24 39 TEL AVIV Israel 89.7 87.6
25 20 HELSINKI Finland 87.8 95.2
25 73 DUBAI UAE 87.8 77.8
27 22 DOUALA Cameroon 87.6 93.8
28 29 TAIPEI Taiwan 86.8 90.6
29 44 LOS ANGELES United States 86.7 86.7
30 64 ABU DHABI UAE 86 81
31 96 LAGOS Nigeria 85.5 72.8
32 52 BEIRUT Lebanon 85.4 84.6
32 50 HANOI Vietnam 85.4 84.9
34 119 SAO PAULO Brazil 85 66.6
34 50 SAN FRANCISCO United States 85 84.9
36 18 STOCKHOLM Sweden 84.8 96.8
37 56 HO CHI MINH CITY Vietnam 84.2 83.8
38 52 CHICAGO United States 84.1 84.6
39 57 MIAMI United States 83.9 83.3
40 124 RIO DE JANEIRO Brazil 83.5 65.4
41 123 LUSAKA Zambia 83.4 65.6
41 24 AMSTERDAM Netherlands 83.4 93.3
43 45 WHITE PLAINS United States 83.2 86.6
44 63 SHENZHEN China 82.9 81.3
45 26 ABIDJAN Cote d'Ivoire 82.8 93
45 36 DAKAR Senegal 82.8 87.9
47 82 TORONTO Canada 82.6 76.2
48 71 JAKARTA Indonesia 82.4 78.9
48 31 BRATISLAVA Slovak Republic 82.4 89.9
50 28 PRAGUE Czech Republic 82.1 90.8
51 58 ALGIERS Algeria 82 81.9
52 75 ALMATY Kazakhstan 81.9 77.6
53 46 MADRID Spain 81.6 86
54 65 GUANGZHOU China 81.5 80.6
55 74 SAN JUAN Puerto Rico 81.4 77.7
56 87 VANCOUVER Canada 81.2 74.3
56 43 BARCELONA Spain 81.2 86.9
56 33 LUXEMBOURG Luxembourg 81.2 88.2
59 41 ATHENS Greece 81.1 87.2
60 40 GLASGOW United Kingdom 80.7 87.5
61 34 FRANKFURT Germany 80.5 88
62 67 AMMAN Jordan 80.4 80.1
62 32 DUSSELDORF Germany 80.4 88.4
62 27 WARSAW Poland 80.4 91.5
65 37 MUNICH Germany 80.2 87.8
65 24 BUDAPEST Hungary 80.2 93.3
67 61 HONOLULU United States 80 81.4
68 105 MUMBAI India 79.9 70.8
69 47 BIRMINGHAM United Kingdom 79.7 85.8
70 41 BRUSSELS Belgium 79.5 87.2
71 98 CALGARY Canada 79.3 72.5
72 38 BERLIN Germany 79.2 87.7
73 110 NEW DELHI India 79 69.9
74 68 MELBOURNE Australia 78.8 80
75 91 ACCRA Ghana 78.6 73.6
76 70 HOUSTON United States 78.5 79.1
77 49 HAMBURG Germany 78.2 85
78 72 KUWAIT CITY Kuwait 78 78.3
79 48 ZAGREB Croatia 77.7 85.2
80 107 MONTREAL Canada 77.6 70.7
81 54 RIGA Latvia 77.2 84.5
81 95 MEXICO CITY Mexico 77.2 73.1
83 78 WASHINGTON United States 77 77.4
84 80 MORRISTOWN United States 76.8 76.9
84 79 BOSTON United States 76.8 77
86 83 ATLANTA United States 76.3 76.1
87 86 MANAMA Bahrain 76.1 74.5
88 59 CASABLANCA Morocco 75.9 81.6
88 66 LISBON Portugal 75.9 80.2
90 122 OTTAWA Canada 75.6 66.4
91 128 SANTIAGO Chile 74.5 64.8
91 61 LYON France 74.5 81.4
93 108 GUATEMALA CITY Guatemala 74.3 70.4
93 97 CAIRO Egypt 74.3 72.5
93 93 PERTH Australia 74.3 73.5
96 60 TALLINN Estonia 73.7 81.5
97 94 DENVER United States 73.6 73.2
98 88 RIYADH Saudi Arabia 73.5 74.1
99 84 BRISBANE Australia 73.2 74.9
100 89 JEDDAH Saudi Arabia 72.9 73.9
100 69 AUCKLAND New Zealand 72.9 79.6
102 103 SEATTLE United States 71.9 71.4
103 115 MONTERREY Mexico 71.6 67.7
103 102 ST. LOUIS United States 71.6 71.6
105 76 WELLINGTON New Zealand 71.1 77.5
106 76 LJUBLJANA Slovenia 71 77.5
107 119 NAIROBI Kenya 70.9 66.6
108 89 ADELAIDE Australia 70.6 73.9
109 105 KINGSTON Jamaica 70 70.8
110 109 CLEVELAND United States 69.8 70.3
111 112 PORTLAND United States 69.7 68.8
111 81 SOFIA Bulgaria 69.7 76.3
113 111 PITTSBURGH United States 69.4 69.2
114 117 KUALA LUMPUR Malaysia 69.3 67.1
114 103 BUCHAREST Romania 69.3 71.4
116 91 VILNIUS Lithuania 69.2 73.6
117 116 JOHANNESBURG South Africa 69.1 67.4
118 100 LIMASSOL Cyprus 68.7 71.9
118 118 LIMA Peru 68.7 66.9
118 113 BANDAR SERI Brunei 68.7 68.5
121 114 PANAMA CITY Panama 68.5 68.3
122 101 DETROIT United States 68.3 71.8
123 85 LEIPZIG Germany 68.1 74.8
124 119 WINSTON SALEM United States 66.7 66.6
125 129 TEHRAN Iran 66.4 64.4
126 99 SANTO DOMINGO Dominican 65.3 72.3
127 125 BANGKOK Thailand 64.9 65.3
128 131 TIANJIN China 63.6 62.5
129 130 BLANTYRE Malawi 63.1 62.7
130 133 BOGOTA Colombia 62.7 62.7
131 127 DACCA (DHAKA) Bangladesh 62.5 62.5
132 132 COLOMBO Sri Lanka 61.4 60
133 126 TUNIS Tunisia 60.7 65.2
134 135 SAN JOSE Costa Rica 58.1 58
135 137 QUITO Ecuador 57.4 54.6
136 138 CARACAS Venezuela 57.2 54.4
137 138 CHENNAI (MADRAS) India 56.7 54.4
138 140 MONTEVIDEO Uruguay 56.5 53.5
139 141 BANGALORE India 56.4 51.7
140 136 KARACHI Pakistan 56.1 56.1
141 143 MANILA Philippines 56 49.8
142 142 BUENOS AIRES Argentina 54.8 50.3
143 134 HARARE Zimbabwe 50.9 58.4
144 144 ASUNCION Paraguay 43.5 40.3
