COST OF LIVING REPORT

• Recently, the Worldwide Cost of Living report has been released highlighting that Tel Aviv (Israel’s capital) is the world’s most expensive city to live in. .
• The report is compiled by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU). It compares the cost of living indices in different cities.

Important points:

• The Israeli city of Tel Aviv topped the rankings for the first time, overtaking last year’s leader Paris, which is now at second place along with Singapore.
• Paris and Singapore came joint second, followed by Zurich and Hong Kong. New York was in sixth, with Geneva in seventh.
• The index is benchmarked against prices in New York City, hence cities with currencies that are stronger against the US dollar are likely to appear higher in the rankings.
• The 2021 Worldwide Cost of Living index tracks the cost of living across 173 global cities and compares the price of more than 200 everyday products and services.
• Supply-chain blockages and changing consumer demand have pushed up the cost of living in many of the biggest cities. Moreover, inflation is the fastest recorded over the past five years.
• In India, Ahmedabad, Gujarat has been listed in the top ten cheapest cities of the survey.
• Among the cheapest cities, Damascus (capital of Syria) is at the top. It is followed by Tripoli (Libya,) Tashkent (Uzbekistan), Tunis (Tunisia) and Almaty (Kazakhstan’) in the ranking of cheapest cities.

Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU)

• The Economist Intelligence Unit is the research and analysis division of The Economist Group, which is the sister company to The Economist newspaper.
• The EIU also releases the Democracy Index, which provides a snapshot of the state of democracy worldwide in 165 independent states and two territories.
• India ranks at 53rd position in EIU’s Democracy Index.

SOURCE: THE HINDU,THE ECONOMIC TIMES,MINT