World's Most Expensive Cities

With Tokyo topping the list once again, the Economist Intelligence Unit released this chart analyzing the cost-of living index.  Beating out Zurich which achieved the number one spot last year due to its currency strength, Tokyo occupies the same place this year it has had fourteen times in the last twenty years.

New York forms the basis for comparison and is anchored at one hundred for reference, though up nineteen places from last year, reaching spot 27.  The scale is determine on the weighted average of 160 goods and services in each city.

In the past decade, cities that have seen strongest growth are Caracas and São Paulo (however, Caracas is seen to decrease to the level of Mumbai and Karachi when corrected for high inflation).  The past ten years have spelled out the most decline for Detroit and Panama City.