Pricey Cities: London=3rd; Tokyo=2nd; and ...

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Black coffee(1949) Sarah Vaughan I'm feelin' mighty lonesome, haven't slept a wink; I walk the floor from nine to four, in between I drink Black coffee ... Now man is born to come a-lovin', And a woman's born to weep and fret To stay at home and tend her oven And drown her past regrets in coffee and cigarettes.

Drowning past regrets in a cup of lukewarm bitter-sweet is much more dearer in Moscow than in the west ...


London may be costly, but it's cheap compared with Moscow and Tokyo
July 24, 2008
If you think a coffee in London is expensive, don't move to Moscow - or Tokyo, for that matter. ... The survey found that one cup of coffee including service would cost on average £2.20 in London, compared with £5.19 in Moscow and £2.57 in Tokyo. Similarly, a copy of an international daily newspaper would set you back £3.05 in Moscow compared with just £1.50 in Britain.


Moscow tops list of pricey cities
Thursday, 24 July 2008
The research by human resources firm Mercer took account of expenses such as rent, eating out and petrol. Moscow has particularly expensive coffee, with a cup in a cafe costing $10.40 (£5.19) including service. Tokyo climbed two spots into second place in the survey, followed by London, which dropped one place into third and Oslo, which came fourth. The survey compared the cost of 200 items in 143 cities.


Mercer's 2008 Cost of Living survey highlights
Last updated: : 23 July 2008

Rank March 2008	Rank March 2007	City	Country	Cost of living Index March 2008	Cost of living Index March 2007
1	1	Moscow	Russia	142.4	134.4
2	4	Tokyo	Japan	127.0	122.1
3	2	London	UK	125.0	126.3
4	10	Oslo	Norway	118.3	105.8
5	3	Seoul	South Korea	117.7	122.4
6	5	Hong Kong	China	117.6	119.4
7	6	Copenhagen	Denmark	117.2	110.2
8	7	Geneva	Switzerland	115.8	109.8
9	9	Zurich	Switzerland	112.7	107.6
10	11	Milan	Italy	111.3	104.4
11	8	Osaka	Japan	110.0	108.4
12	13	Paris	France	109.4	101.4
13	14	Singapore	Singapore	109.1	100.4
14	17	Tel Aviv	Israel	105.0	97.7
15	21	Sydney	Australia	104.1	94.9
16	16	Dublin	Ireland	103.9	99.6
16	18	Rome	Italy	103.9	97.6
18	12	St. Petersburg	Russia	103.1	103.0
19	19	Vienna	Austria	102.3	96.9
20	20	Beijing	China	101.9	95.9
21	22	Helsinki	Finland	101.1	93.3
22	15	New York City	US	100.0	100.0
23	38	Istanbul	Turkey	99.4	87.7
24	26	Shanghai	China	98.3	92.1
25	25	Amsterdam	Netherlands	97.0	92.2
25	29	Athens	Greece	97.0	90.6
25	62	São Paulo	Brazil	97.0	82.8
28	26	Madrid	Spain	96.7	92.1
29	49	Prague	Czech Rep.	96.0	85.6
30	37	Lagos	Nigeria	95.9	88.0
31	31	Barcelona	Spain	95.2	89.2
31	64	Rio de Janeiro	Brazil	95.2	82.5
31	23	Stockholm	Sweden	95.2	93.1
34	24	Douala	Cameroon	95.1	92.9
35	67	Warsaw	Poland	95.0	82.4
36	64	Melbourne	Australia	94.2	82.5
37	39	Munich	Germany	93.1	87.6
38	45	Berlin	Germany	93.0	85.9
39	44	Brussels	Belgium	92.9	86.5
40	40	Frankfurt	Germany	92.5	87.4
41	33	Dakar	Senegal	92.2	89.0
42	28	Kiev	Ukraine	91.7	91.4
43	43	Luxembourg	Luxembourg	91.3	87.0
44	30	Almaty	Kazakhstan	90.7	89.6
45	31	Bratislava	Slovakia	90.6	89.2
46	45	Düsseldorf	Germany	90.4	85.9
46	72	Riga	Latvia	90.4	81.5
48	52	Mumbai	India	90.3	84.9
49	59	Zagreb	Croatia	90.0	83.5
50	57	Hamburg	Germany	89.9	84.2

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