Rotterdam rises rapidly on Economist list of world’s most expensive cities

Rotterdam is quickly climbing on the Economist’s Worldwide Cost of Living rankings. The Netherlands’ second largest city now ranks as the city with the 77th highest cost of living in the global survey. A year ago, Rotterdam was in 106th place. Amsterdam ranked 36th, up from 53rd last year.

The Dutch capital measured an index score of 75 compared to New York, up from 69 last year. That indicates that the cost of living in Amsterdam is getting closer to New York City. Rotterdam measured an index score of 65, up from 59.

The jump in Western European cost of living is generally explained by inflation and is also driven by a steep rise in grocery prices, a spokesperson told NL Times. Earlier on Thursday, Statistics Netherlands reported that inflation was 1.6 percent in the Netherlands in November, largely due to lower energy prices. Food and other supermarket prices were still 7.3 percent higher than in November last year.

According to the Economist researchers, prices rose by an average of 7.4 percent in the past year in the world’s major cities. That is slightly lower than last year’s 8.1 percent jump but still “significantly above the trend in 2017-21.”

Singapore and Zurich in Switzerland tied for the most expensive city in the world. New York in the United States and Geneva in Switzerland tied for third. Four of the top ten most expensive cities are in Western Europe - Zurich, Geneva, Paris (France), and Copenhagen (Denmark). Damascus in Syria is the cheapest city.

A similar study by Mercer earlier this year had Amsterdam and The Hague in the top 50 most expensive cities to live in. Amsterdam was in 28th place, dropping three spots from last year. And The Hague was in 46th, climbing one position.