Each year, the Cost of Living report finds that specific factors such as currency fluctuations, cost inflation for goods and services, and instability of accommodation prices, are essential to determining the cost of expatriate packages for employees on international assignments.

Widely recognized and one of the world’s most comprehensive, 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. The 2020 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.

In the wake of COVID-19, social and economic disruption has spurred organizations to reassess their global mobility programs with a focus on the well-being of their expatriate employees. As they leverage new working arrangements, changing technology, and adaptive ways of thinking, they are considering alternate forms of international assignments in addition to traditional mobility programs to sustain their overseas operations and workforces.

Ranking Highlights

In Africa, Victoria, Seychelles (14) is ranked highest city while Tunis in Tunisia (209) ranks as the least expensive city in the region and globally. Ndjamena, Chad (15), follows Seychelles, dropping four places from its ranking as the most expensive city in Africa, last year (11).
Lagos, Nigeria (18) is the next city on the list rising seven places, followed by Kinshasa, the Dem. Rep. of Congo (24) which dropped two places.
In comparison with last year’s report, some African countries like Harare, Zimbabwe, Niamey in Niger, and Cairo, Egypt have gone up 188 to 165, 149 to 116, and 166 to 126, respectively.

Further, Luanda, Angola has seen significant increase in exchange rates while Cairo, Egypt and Tunis, Tunisia, have experienced a drop. Djibouti, Djibouti (58) has no difference in exchange rates.

Mercer’s survey shows that costs of goods and services shift with inflation and currency volatility making overseas assignment costs sometimes greater and sometimes smaller. Therefore, properly vetting locations and compensating employees on international assignments is important.
Mercer produces individual cost of living and rental accommodation cost reports for each city surveyed.

For more information on city rankings, visit https://mobilityexchange.mercer.com/Insights/cost-of-living-rankings.

Click here to read full PDF copy of report