Moscow was ranked the world’s fourth most expensive city for expatriates in the latest Mercer Human Resource Consulting survey published on Tuesday.
Tokyo won the title of the most expensive city, while Karachi, Pakistan’s financial center and main seaport, was rated cheapest in the Cost of Living survey.
The Angolan capital Luanda came in second place followed by Osaka (Japan), Moscow and Geneva.
The annual survey assessed the cost of 200 goods and services in 214 cities across the globe, using New York as a reference. The items on the list included housing, food and transport.
Moscow also came fourth in the 2010 and 2011 surveys.
Over the past two decades, Moscow has undergone a dramatic transformation from a communist citadel to a vibrant modern-day metropolis, but has suffered from increasing pollution, traffic problems and rising costs.
