Romania’s capital city Bucharest gained 10 places in the ranking of the most expensive cities in the world for expats made by human resources consultancy company Mercer.

Bucharest moved up to 159, from 169 in 2013, but still remains one of the cheapest cities in the ranking, which is based on the cost of living for expats in 211 cities around the globe.

Bucharest is cheaper for expats than Poland’s capital Warsaw (on 142), Hungary’s capital Budapest (135) and Prague in the Czech Republic (92). On the other hand, it’s still more expensive than Sofia in Bulgaria (172) and Belgrade in Serbia (184).

Zurich, Geneva and Bern, in Switzerland, and Russia’s capital Moscow are the most expensive cities for expats in Europe. A cup of coffee in Moscow costs EUR 4.99 compared to EUR 2.33 in Bucharest, the research shows.

The Mercer Cost of Living research is one of the most extensive studies of this kind and is created to help multinational companies and Governments to determine the remuneration levels for expatriate employees. New York is the reference for all cities and costs are calculated in dollars.

The research takes into account prices for over 200 products and services in each of the cities analyzed.

editor@romania-insider.com