Dublin Now the Most Expensive City for Expats in the Eurozone

In Mercer’s annual cost of living survey, soaring rents lead the Irish capital to overtake Paris, the capital rose 34 places from last year, rising from 66th to 32nd place in the world.

Paris was the most expensive Eurozone city in the survey last year. It is also higher than Milan, Vienna, Rome, and Amsterdam.

Among the 375 cities in the world, Hong Kong is named the most expensive city among employees working abroad, followed by Tokyo (2), Zurich (3), Singapore (4), Seoul (5), Angolan capital Luanda (6), Shanghai (7), N’Djamena in Chad (8)and Beijing (9) and Bern (10).

Noel O’Connor, Mercer’s senior advisor, believes that some of the reasons for the rise of Dublin in the rankings have been enhanced in the euro, but not all.

He said, “Whilst all cities in the Eurozone have risen in the rankings due to the euro strength against the dollar, Dublin has now overtaken Paris to become the most expensive city in the eurozone, in terms of cost of living for expatriate workers”.

The rise in rents has made Dublin the most expensive city in the eurozone to live for expatriates. This situation may eventually undermine the city’s growing digital trend.

“The survey identifies cost pressures on expatriate rental accommodation in Dublin as the key driver and this in turn reflects the growth of the economy, with continuing high levels of foreign direct investment,” he added.

The other Irish city Belfast in the survey was ranked 152nd, which was higher than 170th in 2017.