Dhaka most expensive city for foreign nationals in South Asia

Among South Asian cities, Dhaka is the most expensive city for foreign nationals in terms of living expense.

The cost of living in Dhaka is more expensive than in Washington DC and Dubai.

The 2021 "Cost of Living" survey by New York-based company Mercer provided a comparative picture of cost of living for foreigners in different cities around the world where Bangladesh's capital ranked 40th on the list.

Mercer's survey of the cost of living for foreign nationals listed 209 cities, keeping in mind the cost of housing, transportation, food and entertainment. The list was made keeping New York City as the baseline.

Ashgabat, the capital of Turkmenistan, has been ranked the most expensive city in the world for foreigners. The other cities in the top 10 are -- Hong Kong (China), Beirut (Lebanon), Tokyo (Japan), Zurich (Switzerland), Shanghai (China), Singapore, Geneva (Switzerland), Beijing (China) and Bern (Switzerland).

Mumbai (78) is the second most expensive city in South Asia after Dhaka. It is followed by Yangon, Myanmar (104), New Delhi (117), Chennai (158), Bangalore (170) and Kolkata (181) in India and Islamabad (199) and Karachi (201) in Pakistan.

According to CNN, the biggest change this year in the Mercer survey was Beirut's rise to third place. Beirut was the 45th most expensive city for foreign workers in 2020. The country has been in an economic recession since the Covid-19 pandemic and the blast at the port of Beirut in August last year.

The least expensive cities for foreign workers surveyed are Tbilisi (Georgia), Lusaka (Zambia) and Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan).