Karachi sixth cheapest city in the world: report
March 17, 2018
Karachi has been named as one of the cheapest cities in the world by the Economist Intelligence Unit.
The Worldwide Cost of Living report released earlier this week ranked Karachi as the sixth cheapest city in the world of a total 133 cities.
The EIU's annual ranking compares the prices of over 150 items in 133 cities around the world.
Bangalore, Chennai and New Delhi are all featured among the top 10 cheapest locations this year. They were joined by Damascus, Caracus, Almaty, Lagos, Algiers and Bucharest.
However, the report noted that although the region in which Pakistan lies remains structurally cheap, instability is becoming an increasingly prominent factor in lowering the relative cost of living of a location. This means that there is a considerable element of risk in some of the world’s cheapest cities.
Karachi, Algiers, Almaty and Lagos have faced well-documented economic, political, security and infrastructural challenges, and there is some correlation between The Economist Intelligence Unit’s cost of living ranking and its sister ranking, the liveability survey, the report stated.
Put simply cheaper cities also tend to be less livable, it added.
World’s most expensive cities
Meanwhile, Singapore has been dubbed the world's most expensive city to live in for the fifth year running.
The city state marched in ahead of New York, London and Los Angeles, which didn't even feature in the top 10 priciest places in EIU’s survey.
Singapore's top ranking is reflective of a regional trend, with the costs of living picking up across parts of Asia as their economies expand.
From Asia, Seoul and Hong Kong also featured in the top 10 most expensive cities.
Europe, too, continues to be expensive — Paris, Zurich, Oslo, Geneva and Copenhagen appeared in the top 10. The only city outside of Asia or Europe to appear in the top 10 was Sydney.
Meanwhile, the weakening of the US dollar in 2017 caused New York and Los Angeles to slip to 13th and 14th positions, respectively.
