mumbai luanda the capital of angola has been rated the worlds costliest city to live in for the third consecutive year by mercers cost of living survey 2015 hong kong 2 zurich 3 singapore 4 and geneva 5 top the list of most expensive cities for expatriates asian cities dominate the top 10 costliest cities rankings along with major cities in switzerland in the report indias most expensive city to live in mumbai 74 climbed 66 places in the ranking the city says the report has witnessed higher inflation over the last one year as compared to other metros higher cost of fuel transportation increased prices of food items home services and rentals impacting the overall cost of living mumbai is followed by new delhi 132 and chennai 157 which rose in the ranking by 25 and 28 spots respectively bangalore 183 and kolkata 193 the least expensive indian cities climbed in the ranking as well mumbai 74 is ranked higher and more expensive than cities like dallas 77 munich 87 luxembourg 94 frankfurt 98 and vancouver 119 of the world the worlds least expensive cities for expatriates according to mercers survey are bishkek 207 windhoek 206 and karachi 205 with a large number of indian multinational organisations progressively expanding their footprint abroad 85 per cent of multinationals are expecting expatriate assignments to increase over the next two years to address business needs indian companies have been bullish on sending employees abroad said ruchika pal india practice leader global mobility at mercer in a release organisations continue to recognise the importance of international assignees what they need to evaluate even more closely is the impact of political and economic factors such as currency stability inflation and political instability to balance cost versus competitiveness of the expatriates compensation package added ms pal across continents countries with the highest expected increase in the number of indian international assignees are south africa uae uk and usa the survey includes 207 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 currency fluctuations and the impact of inflation on goods and services have influenced the cost of expatriate programs as well as the city rankings