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Clearly the person writing this list hasn’t been to Australia…

If there’s one thing that’s defined 2023, it’s just how bloody expensive everything has become. From food to petrol to rent (emphasis on rent!), it’s a tough time to merely exist in today’s world.

The best demonstrator of just how pricey life is now is usually reflected in Economist Ingelligence Unit’s Worldwide Cost of Living Index, who annually curate the ‘World’s Most Expensive Cities’ list  at the tail end of every year. The most recent iteration has some pretty eye-opening results, with a 7.4% average increase in the cost of living in 2023. To put things in perspective, it’s slightly lower than the 8.1% spike observed in 2022 but still significantly higher than historical trends.

This year’s rankings are definitely surprising, particularly to any Aussie living in, well, Australia. Specifically as none of our cities actually made the list.

Coming in first were Zurich and Singapore, followed by a tie between New York and Geneva. Then comes a bunch of go-to destinations, with Hong Kong, Los Angeles, Paris, Tel Aviv tied with Copenhagen and San Francisco all coming after.

Now, I can get behind 80% of this list, but by god, how Sydney didn’t make the top ten is quite literally insane. The fact that rent is continuing to skyrocket and food is becoming a luxury is a fact not lost on anyone. Hell, I know students who are currently surviving on mere canned tuna and rice every day.

Still, if we didn’t make the top ten, we cant even begin to imagine how tough those countries overseas are doing it. Check out the full list below.

1. Zurich and Singapore (tie)
3. New York and Geneva (tie)
5. Hong Kong
6. Los Angeles
7. Paris
8. Tel Aviv and Copenhagen (tie)
10. San Francisco