While there’s no denying the cost of living in Dubai and Abu Dhabi can be incredibly high, it’s seemingly cheaper than it was last year.
According to the annual Cost of Living Survey conducted by the global consultancy firm Mercer, the cost of living in both emirates has decreased for expats.
In 2019 Dubai ranked 21 on the list of 209 cities, but this year was bumped down two places to 23. As for the UAE’s capital, last year it ranked 33 on the list but jumped down seven places to 39.
The survey in question compares 209 cities to New York across key living categories: housing, transportation, food, clothing, household goods and entertainment.
Hong Kong came out as the most expensive city for expatriates to live in, followed by Ashgabat, the capital of Turkmenistan, which has been suffering from an economic crisis. Then followed Tokyo (3), Zurich (4), Singapore (5), New York (6), Shanghai (7), Bern (8), Geneva (9) and Bejing rounding off the top 10.
As for GCC cities, Dubai came out on top, followed by Riyadh, Saudi Arabia taking spot number 31, eight places above Abu Dhabi which came in next. Manama, Bahrain charted next in place 52, followed by Muscat, Oman (96), then Jeddah, Saudi Arabia (104) and finally Kuwait City, Kuwait (113) rounded off the GCC cities featured.
While the survey was conducted in February going to March before many countries had experienced the economic fallout from the pandemic, another sample date was taken in April and the results showed the virus hadn’t yet had a significant impact. However, this is not known what it could mean for the long-term.
Well, we guess on the plus side it does mean the main UAE cities are just ever so cheaper.
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