Singapore has been ranked the world’s most expensive city for a fifth straight year as the cost of living in many major Asian cities continues to march higher. Singapore, an island city state of 5.6m people, is 16 percent more expensive to live in than New York, according to an Economist Intelligence Unit survey which compares the price of over 150 items in 133 cities around the world.
隨著亞洲許多主要城市的生活成本持續升高，新加坡連續第5年被評為全球物價最高的城市。經濟學人智庫(EIU)的一項調查顯示，作為一個擁有560萬人口的城市島國，新加坡的生活成本比紐約高16%。EIU對全球各地133個城市中逾150種商品的價格進行了比較。
Singapore reflects a regional trend, with Asian hubs now making up many of the world’s most expensive cities,」 said EIU’s Roxana Slavcheva.
EIU的羅克珊娜.斯拉夫切娃(Roxana Slavcheva)表示：「新加坡反映了一種地區趨勢，亞洲的許多中心城市如今進入了世界最昂貴城市之列。」
Seventeen cities from the Asia Pacific region are ranked in the 50 most expensive cities, with Hong Kong placed fourth, Seoul sixth and Sydney tenth. Shanghai, at 21, and Shenzhen, 23, are China’s most expensive cities though the report noted that the cost of living in China remained stable. New Zealand’s Wellington and Auckland share 24th place.
來自亞太的17個城市進入了全球最昂貴城市前50強，其中香港排名第四，首爾排名第六，雪梨排名第十。上海排名第21，深圳排名第23，它們是中國內地物價最昂貴的城市，但報告指出，中國的生活成本保持穩定。紐西蘭的惠靈頓和奧克蘭並列排名第24。
「The competition between Asian hubs like Singapore, Hong Kong and Seoul on the one hand and European destinations such as Paris, Zurich and Oslo on the other will be one to watch over the next survey cycle as well,」 Ms Slavcheva said. A stronger euro lifted several Western European cities up the rankings, with Paris climbing five places to join Zurich in second place and Oslo entering the top five.
「新加坡、香港和首爾等亞洲中心與巴黎、蘇黎世和奧斯陸等歐洲目的地之間的競爭，也將成為下一個調查周期的看點，」斯拉夫切娃說。歐元走強使幾個西歐城市的排名上升，巴黎前進5位，與蘇黎世並列第二，奧斯陸進入前五。
Among those moving down in the rankings was New York, which fell four places to thirteenth on the back of a weaker dollar. Low inflation in Japan saw Tokyo and Osaka move out of the top ten, to share eleventh place. Still, South Asian cities are among the cheapest 30 in the world, 「and continue to offer the best value for money in the region」, EIU said.
排名下滑的城市包括紐約：在美元走軟的背景下，紐約跌了4位，跌至第13。在日本低通脹率的影響下，東京和大阪的排名跌出前十，並列第11。不過，南亞城市仍屬於世界上物價最便宜的30個城市之列，「並且仍是亞洲地區最物美價廉的城市」，EIU說。