UBS Prices and Earnings 2015 study: Zurich, Geneva and New York City most …
The most expensive cities
Zurich, Geneva and New York City are the most expensive cities in the world, according to the prices for a standardized basket of 122 goods and services. When rents are added to the mix, Hong Kong moves up 13 spots in the rankings. By contrast, the cost of living is lowest in certain Eastern European cities such as Kyiv, which is the cheapest city. Dubai is one of only four cities in the study where an average unfurnished three-room apartment rents for more than 3,000 US dollars a month, namely $3,240. The others are London ($3,350), Hong Kong ($4,220), and New York ($4,320).
The highest wages
Workers in Zurich, Geneva and Luxembourg earn the highest gross wages. After taxes and social security contributions, Copenhagen loses 20 spots in the rankings, due to income deductions of around 45 per cent. In Nairobi, Jakarta and Kyiv, the lowest-ranked cities, workers receive only around 5 per cent of average gross earnings in Zurich.. Manama workers earn the highest average net wages in the Middle East.
How many hours’ earnings buy a Big Mac® or an iPhone?
Wage value is best described by comparing domestic purchasing power for goods that are as homogenous as possible worldwide. Salaries go farthest in Luxembourg, Zurich and Geneva, where the net hourly wage buys the most goods and services from the standardized basket. Nairobi and Jakarta have the lowest purchasing power, affording just one-tenth as much as workers in Luxembourg. A Big Mac® costs almost three hours of average earnings in Nairobi, compared with just nine minutes in Hong Kong. Workers in Zurich can buy an iPhone 6 after 21 hours of work; in Kyiv, it takes 30 times longer.
Shortest working hours in Paris
People work over 2,000 hours per year in 19 major cities, most of them in Asia and the Middle East. The shortest working hours and highest number of days of paid vacation are enjoyed by workers in Western Europe. Workers in Hong Kong work 1,000 more hours than those in Paris, a difference of around four hours more per working day.
Seoul second-costliest for food; haircuts 19 times pricier in Oslo than Jakarta
The basket of 39 food items costs over four times more in Seoul than in Kyiv, where the food basket costs the least. In terms of food prices, Seoul is second only to Zurich. Services tend to be correlated to local wages, with the cost of the basket covering services such as haircuts, dry cleaning and internet fees. Haircuts cost the most in Oslo and are 19 times pricier on average than in Jakarta.