Moscow is the world's most expensive city Moscow is the world's most expensive city for the second year in a row, thanks to an appreciating ruble and rising housing costs, a new survey reports. The cost of living in the Russian capital is nearly 35 percent higher than in New York, which served as the base city for the survey released Monday. London, estimated at 26 percent more expensive than New York, climbed three spots to second place on a strengthening British pound and steep rental prices. South Korea's Seoul ranked third, followed closely by Tokyo at No. 4. The survey by Mercer Human Resource Consulting ranked 143 cities around the world, measuring the comparative cost of more than 200 areas such as housing, transportation and food. The findings are designed to help multinational employers determine compensation for their expatriate workers. In Moscow, a luxury two-bedroom apartment will cost an expat $4,000 a month; a CD rings up at $24.83; one copy of an international daily newspaper is $6.30; and a fast-food hamburger meal totals $4.80. A strengthening euro boosted 30 European cities to top spots on the 2007 list - Copenhagen, Geneva, Zurich and Oslo, respectively, placed among the top 10. Eight Asian cities made the top 50, though Taipei, Taiwan, plunged 20 places to No. 48. New York and Los Angeles were the only two North American cities to rank among the highest 50, though both fell in the rankings due to a depreciating U.S. dollar, Mercer reported. The Big Apple dropped five places to No. 15, while Los Angeles fell to No. 42 from No. 29 in 2006. Ranking as the least expensive city for the fifth year in a row was Paraguay's capital of Asuncion, where the cost of living is half that of New York, Mercer estimated. 點擊查看更多雙語新聞 (Reuters)

據(jù)一項最新調(diào)查，由于盧布的不斷升值和住房成本的持續(xù)上漲，莫斯科連續(xù)第二年成為全球生活成本最高的城市。 該項于周一公布的調(diào)查顯示，莫斯科的生活成本比“基準城市”紐約高近35%。 倫敦的生活成本比紐約高約26%，由于英鎊不斷升值及房租過高，倫敦連攀三個榜位，升至第二。 韓國的首爾名列第三，東京緊跟其后，位居第四。 美世人力資源咨詢公司的該項調(diào)查對全球143個城市的住房、交通和飲食等200多個領(lǐng)域的比較成本進行了測算，并據(jù)此對這些城市進行了排位。該調(diào)查的結(jié)果旨在幫助那些跨國公司的老板們?yōu)樗麄兊鸟v外員工確定補貼金額。 在莫斯科，一套豪華兩居室的月租金為4000美元、一張CD要24.83美元、一份國際性日報要6.3美元、一頓漢堡快餐需要花費4.8美元。 歐元的持續(xù)升值將歐洲30個城市送至今年排行榜的高位，哥本哈根、日內(nèi)瓦、蘇黎世和奧斯陸都躋身前十名。 亞洲有八個城市躋身前五十，其中臺北下滑20位，跌至第48名。 據(jù)美世公司報告，紐約和洛杉磯是僅有的兩個躋身前50名的北美城市，不過由于美元的貶值這兩個城市今年的排名有所下滑。 紐約下滑五個榜位，降至第15位；洛杉磯從去年的29位下降至第42位。 巴拉圭首都亞松森連續(xù)第五年被評為生活成本最低的城市，據(jù)美世公司估算，這個城市的生活成本僅為紐約的一半。 （英語點津姍姍編輯）