Brussels now more expensive for expats

According to the annual list of world cities and their costs, Brussels is the world’s 67th most expensive city for expats. The list compiled by consultancy company Mercer places the capital 37 places higher than last year when it ranked 104th.

Mercer’s list compiles how expensive it is for expats to live in the top 200 cities. Taking into account things like renting and buying real estate, transport costs, the price of food and leisure activities.

Eurozone cities like Brussels are higher up this year’s list than last year, as in 2017, Belgian supermarkets cost on average far more than it’s neighbouring countries: 13.4% more than in Germany, 12.9% more than the Netherlands and 9.1% more than in France. However, this change perhaps is attributed to the relatively high value of the euro compared to other major world currencies. US cities, on the other hand, became relatively less expensive due to the fall in the value of the US dollar.

The world’s most expensive cities are Hong Kong, followed by Tokyo and Zurich – and the cost of living in London and Paris still far outweighed the European capital.