Ukraine’s capital ranks as the 28th most expensive city for expatriate workers, according to the latest Worldwide Cost of Living Survey conducted by Mercer Human Resource Consulting LLC, a worldwide consultancy headquartered in New York City. Yet the quality of living in Kyiv remains relatively low, according to the consultancy.

The consulting company announced the results of the survey June 18. The survey itself was conducted in March 2007 and was based on a similar survey conducted in March 2006.

Mercer Human Resource Consulting, a global leader for HR and related financial advice and services, claims that its Cost of Living Survey is the most comprehensive one in the world and is used to help multinational companies and governments determine compensation allowances for their expatriate employees.

Yvonne Traber, research manager of the company, said the public survey covers 143 cities on six continents and measures the comparative cost of over 200 items in each location. Yet his company actually analyzes hundreds of cities for clients. The item prices measured by the survey made public this month include housing (rental cost), food, clothing, public and private transportation, sports, leisure and entertainment, domestic supplies, home appliances and personal care products.

The base location, against which all other cities covered by the research are compared, is New York. Its cost of living index is set at 100 points.

In this year’s study, Kyiv dropped seven places, from 21st place last year. However, these results don’t mean that Kyiv became less expensive for expatriates living and working in the city, but merely less expensive than other cities.

Over a one-year period, the cost of living in Kyiv actually increased, Traber said, adding that “Kyiv is definitely not falling in terms of prices.”

The index increased from 89.8 to 91.4 for Kyiv in the past year, Traber said, adding that Kyiv dropped in the ranking because other European cities covered by the research moved higher in their positions due to strengthening of the Euro currency compared to the US Dollar. The cost of living index for some cities increased “almost by 10 percent,” she added.

Moscow tallied in as the world’s most expensive city for the second year in a row, according to the survey, with its cost of living index at 134.4 (123.9 in 2006). Another Russian city made it into the survey’s top 50 – St. Petersburg, which came in 12th, also for the second year in a row, and with an index of 103 (99.7 in 2006).

Among CIS countries, only Russia, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan, with its former capital of Almaty, appeared in the top 50 most expensive cities of the Worldwide Cost of Living Survey 2007. Almaty, which placed 52nd in the survey in 2006, came in 30th in this year’s survey, with Athens (59th in 2006) wedging its way into 29th spot between the former Kazhakh capital and Kyiv.

Of all Eastern European, post-Warsaw Pact countries, only Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic (49th, 50th in 2006), and Slovakia’s Bratislava (31st, 48th in 2006) appeared in the survey’s top 50.

These results suggest that Kyiv does not lag behind its neighbors in terms of rising costs of living.

Despite the rising costs, the quality of living in Eastern Europe and former Soviet republics remains low.

According to the Worldwide Quality of Living Survey, another study conducted by Mercer this spring, not a single CIS or Eastern European country made it into the top 50 of this list, or another Mercer survey, the Worldwide Health and Sanitation Ranking 2007.

The source: Kyiv Post