Tashkent and Bishkek among world's cheapest places for expats

AKIPRESS.COM - The capital of Uzbekistan Tashkent has been included into the list of 5 countries where cost of living is the cheapest for expatriates, according to Mercer 2020 Cost of Living Ranking.
Aside from Tashkent, the world's least expensive cities for expatriates are Tunis (209), Namibia's Windhoerk (208), Bishkek (206), Karachi.
According to Mercer's 2020 Cost of Living Survey, Hong Kong tops the list of most expensive cities for expatriates, followed by Ashgabat, Turkmenistan in second position. Tokyo and Zurich remain in third and fourth positions, respectively, whereas Singapore is in fifth, down two places from last year. New York City ranked sixth, moving up from ninth place. Mercer's data was collected in March; price variances in many locations were not significant due to the pandemic.
Other cities appearing in the top 10 of Mercer's costliest cities for expatriates are Shanghai (7), Bern (8), Geneva (9), and Beijing (10). The world's least expensive cities for expatriates, according to Mercer's survey, are Tunis (209), Windhoek (208), Tashkent and Bishkek, which tied to rank 206.
Mercer's survey is designed to help multinational companies and governments determine compensation strategies for their expatriate employees. New York City is used as the base city for all comparisons and currency movements are measured against the US dollar. The survey includes over 400 cities throughout the world; this year's ranking includes 209 cities across five continents and measures the comparative cost of more than 200 items in each location, including housing, transportation, food, clothing, household goods, and entertainment.