DUBLIN has overtaken London in a ranking of the most expensive cities to live in the world for the first time.
That's according to a new survey by The Economist Intelligence Unit – who said the weakening of sterling since the Brexit vote was largely responsible for the shift.
The Irish capital was found to be the 19th most expensive city in the world, while London has fallen to 30th place – its lowest placing in 20 years.
The research – which analyses the cost of food, drink and clothing across 133 major cities – found the sharp decline of sterling and continued economic uncertainty resulting from the EU referendum had pushed both London and Manchester sharply down the rankings.
“Intense competition among British retailers, accompanied by low oil and commodity prices, has kept significant rises in check over the last few years,” said the report’s author Roxana Slavcheva.
“But now rising import prices mean that British shoppers will notice higher levels of inflation, even as businesses potentially benefit from inbound retail tourism and cross-border trade."
Expensive Europe
London's drop-off means the British capital is now nine percent cheaper to live in than Dublin, and a massive 30 percent cheaper than Paris.
The French capital was tied with Zurich in Switzerland for the second most expensive city worldwide.
Singapore came top for the fifth year running – with Hong Kong in fourth place, Oslo in fifth and Geneva in sixth.
The cheapest major cities in the world include the Romanian capital of Bucharest and New Delhi in India.
No North American city was ranked in the top 10 – but New York was found to be the 13th most expensive, while Los Angeles came in 14th.
