Dubai is the most expensive city in the Gulf for expatriates in 2022

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Dubai has been ranked among the world’s most expensive cities to live and work in for expatriates this year, according to the Cost of Living survey by Mercer.

The study, which looks at how the rising cost of living has impacted workers’ financial wellbeing in 227 cities worldwide, placed Dubai in the 31st position.

The emirate, which has been seeing a growing influx of millionaires and demand for property recently, emerged as the costliest city in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region, beating out the neighbouring cities of Riyadh, which landed in the 103rd position, Jeddah (111th place), Manama (117), Muscat (119), Kuwait City (131) and Doha (133).

Dubai is also a pricier destination for expats compared to popular global hubs like Paris, Munich, Chicago and Sydney.

Hong Kong landed in the first spot, followed by Zurich and Geneva in the second and third positions, respectively.

Rounding out the top ten are Basel, Bern, Tel Aviv, New York City, Singapore, Tokyo and Beijing.

At the bottom of the list, or the cheapest destinations, are Turkey (Ankara), which came in the 227th place, Kyrgyzstan (Bishkek) in the 226th spot and Tajikistan (Dushanbe) in the 225th position.

According to Mercer, the coronavirus pandemic and the war in Ukraine, coupled with skyrocketing inflation and currency volatility, are impacting workers’ cost of living.

The cost of living in Dubai continued to increase this year, with consumer inflation accelerating to 4.6 percent year on year, according to figures released by the Dubai Statistics Centre.

The rate in April was the highest reading since May 2015, according to Emirates NBD.

“The main driver of inflation in Dubai in recent months has been transport costs, which were up 28.8 percent year-on-year in April, accounting for around half of headline inflation,” Khatija Haque, Head of Research & Chief Economist at Emirate NBD, wrote in a note.

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