BANGKOK, 7 June 2011 – The capital of Thailand is rated second as the city with the highest living costs in ASEAN, according the 2011 cost of living survey of the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) of the Economist Magazine.
It was found that Singapore had the highest living cost in the ASEAN region and was ranked tenth in the world while Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur, the capital city of Malaysia, were ranked second and third in ASEAN as well as 72nd and 90th in the world respectively.
EIU economists said prices of domestic products and exchange rates were the major factors driving the living cost in Asian countries.
Tokyo of Japan reportedly had the highest living cost in the world, followed by Osaka of the same country. Paris of France fell to the third place after it was at the top of the table in 2010 due to the Euro depreciation compared with the Yen currency.
Hong Kong moved up to the 11th from the 28th while Shanghai and Beijing of China were also rated 29th and 36th after they were ranked 45th and 58th last year respectively.
Nevertheless, there were five cities in Asia on the list of top 10 cities with lowest living costs, comprising Manila of the Philippines, Kathmandu of Nepal, New Delhi and Mumbai of India and Karachi of Pakistan.
