Surprise, surprise – Our friendly neighbour Singapore has been crowned the most expensive city yet again for the fifth year running now, according to the latest Worldwide Cost of Living Report. On the other hand, Singapore’s ranking in the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network’s happiness index has also been plummeting yearly.
The Worldwide Cost of Living Report tied Paris, France and Zurich, Switzerland in second place, whereas Hong Kong was placed fourth and Seoul, South Korea sixth. Though Tokyo, Japan was the last city to top the list in 2013 until Singapore’s consecutive reign, the city was unexpectedly missing from the list this time around.
For the World Happiness Report, Singapore takes the 34th place, albeit being ranked in the 26th place in 2017 and 22nd in 2016, dropping 12 notches altogether. Malaysia takes after Singapore at the 35th spot of the UN happiness index, which takes into account GDP per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy, social freedom, absence of corruption and more.