Mumbai, Delhi among world's cheapest cities

Mumbai and New Delhi are among the world's cheapest cities while Tokyo and Osaka-Kobe in Japan continue to remain the most expensive, the annual Economist Intelligence Unit's Worldwide Cost of Living Survey said.

The bi-annual survey compares the cost of a representative basket of goods and services in dollar terms from over 130 cities worldwide to provide guidance for the calculation of executive allowances. The data quoted here used New York as a base index of 100 for comparisons.

New Delhi and Karachi are jointly ranked 120th with just 45 on the index, while Mumbai is ranked 122nd on 44. Other Asian cities like Manila is 123rd on 38, just above the cheapest city, Teheran at 32.

As the US dollar continues to weaken, cost of living in New York is cheaper compared to London, which saw the biggest rise, according to the survey.

Despite the rise in relative costs, London has risen only one place in the global cost of living rankings, still behind Tokyo, Osaka, Oslo, Paris, Copenhagen and Zurich - with the top six remaining unchanged.

Having captured 16 of the top 20 places, West European cities continue to dominate as the most expensive destinations. Besides Tokyo and Osaka Kobe, Hong Kong and Singapore are the only non-European cities in the top 20 and neither makes the top ten.

New York (23rd) remains the most expensive city in the Americas, but Canadian cities have overtaken many US cities in cost of living terms. Lexington (64th), Cleveland (68th), Honolulu (71st) and Atlanta (75th) are all cheaper than any other North American city surveyed.

The most expensive Latin American city remains Mexico City, despite a drop in the rankings driven by close ties to the US economy.