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IRELAND’S CAPITAL HAS remained a more expensive place to live than some of the priciest places on the planet, according to a new survey.
The latest Cost of Living report shows that Dublin dropped 10 places this year in the global rankings but remains on the top-100 list of the most expensive places to live in the world at number 87.
This places Dublin above other all cities in the UK and other notoriously expensive places like Melbourne (94th) and Vancouver (91st).
Despite falling ten places in the global rankings, Dublin continues to be one of the most expensive locations in Europe, moving into thirteenth place in the European rankings.
The cost of living survey, commissioned by ECA International, investigates the varying level of household expense in cities around the globe.
It does so by comparing a basket of like-for-like consumer goods and services in 475 worldwide locations. Rental accommodation levels are not factored into the survey.
ECA, which has been running the survey for the past 45 years, states that a strong euro is the main reason for the rise on the list of so many European cities.
According to the report, a weakened euro combined with slow growth, particularly in Germany which narrowly avoided recession, has seen almost all eurozone locations drop in rankings, with seven locations tumbling out of the top 100, including major European cities such as The Hague, Lyon, Rome, Berlin and Munich.
Switzerland continues to have the highest cost of living in Europe with four locations in the top 10, making the country one of the most expensive locations in the world.
The report found that continuing uncertainty surrounding Brexit and the fallout from the US-China trade war has seen UK cities dropping eight places on average, with Central London (140th) posting its lowest ever position in the global rankings.
“While uncertainty may decrease after the election and push up the value of pound there could be years of complicated trade talks ahead so expect the UK to see more fluctuations in the ranking in years to come,” Steven Kilfedder, Production Manager at ECA International said.
The continuing strength of the US dollar has seen all locations in the US increase by an average of 18 places, with New York (15th) and Honolulu (20th) in Hawaii both entering the global top 20. This continues a trend which has seen 28 US locations enter the top 100, compared to just five in 2014.
North America now accounts for almost a third of the top 100 most expensive locations in the world with 30 cities located in either the USA or Canada overtaking Asia which has 28.
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Shocked…
Not
@Eugene Tyson: FF and FG must be so proud. Stop and think before you cast your vote at the next election.
@DaMoons: unfortunately people vote based on their local td who might do one or two things for their area. Rather than voting for a party as a whole if that makes sense so next ge it will be ffg again
@DaMoons: if the country people stayed in the country it wouldn’t be so bad, its the parents fault
I live in Melbourne and it’s nowhere near as expensive as Dublin for day to day living. The only things that costs more are booze and some groceries. The main things like rent, running a car, insurance, power, internet, phone, TV etc are all a lot cheaper.
@The Guru: how about eating out, staying at hotels or getting a plumber in…..in Melbourne they made my eyes water. In fact anything involving labour cost was crazy expensive.
@The Guru: many things like Internet and phone people pay much more then they have to because they are lazy. You can get unlimited call plans with Internet and for 10e a month from three and gomo.
You can get fibre broadband upto 100nb for 25e a month and 40e after that on a 12 month contract.
People can save anywhere from 150e to 300e a year on electric if they switch providers, but so many people are lazy and think its complicated.
I switch two mobiles, Internet and electric last month and over 12 months I’ll save about 900e compared to previous plans.
People don’t think it but Internet has gotten way cheaper, back in 2003/2004 a 512k unlimited DSL package cost 120e a month with BT business . (actually unlimited, no cap) .
@John Horan: eating out definitely cheaper than Dublin and way more options. Hotels hardly count as cost of living but not sure if you’ve looked up the cost of Dublin hotels! Agreed trades are expensive but at least it makes them a viable career choice for young people. Also I haven’t even mentioned the salaries that are a lot higher.
@John Horan: not for long, australia is likely going to crash hard, just like us if not worse.
@Perlum Sprite:
Enlighten me with your knowledge on what’s coming in Australia?
@Perlum Sprite: I’ve been hearing from Irish people about Australia’s imminent economic crash since I got here 10 years ago.
@John Horan: OK how is this my boiler was playing up it hadn’t been used for the whole summer and just would not ignite. Called in a man as I know nothing about boilers here was here for 7 mins got it going €70 thankyou very much.
The government has prioritized dublin over the cities of Waterford,cork,limerick and Galway.half of irelands GDP is from dublin,it’s busting at the seems.planning in this country is a mess,give the other cities a chance
Dublin More Expensive Than London Record Number of Homeless “Children ” With No Homes Ireland
@Mark Lamb: you think there is no homeless in London, record numbers there, more rough sleepers in London than in emergency services in dublin, have a bit of perspective ffs.
FFG Heads in the sand on this one!! A lack of investment in public services means that services that people can rely on in other countries, such as healthcare, transport, and childcare, must be paid for privately here. Lack of protection for consumers means that many of us pay very high bills for basic services such as utilities, waste, insurance and broadband. And, of course, in the height of yet another housing emergency where tens of thousands of people simply can’t afford houses, doesn’t help.
These costs add significantly to the cost base of the economy and undermine competitiveness. They make it harder to attract sustainable jobs and businesses.
The style and tone of the article seems to imply that being high on this list is a good / desirable thing!! Also, “This places Dublin above other all other cities in the UK …”. Someone should tell the author that Dublin is no longer a UK city.
It’s embarrassing, given our history, that Irish people have become rack renting landlords with such relish. Wretched, grasping landlords are a scourge..
@Bart Teeling: I’m not a landlord but the demand determines the value of the letting not the owner of the property, If I wanted to let out an apartment in Athlone, I can’t ask for Dublin prices because I’m greedy.
In other words prices won’t be going down until renters have a choice of properties. The governments inaction in building new estates and apartments, and their lack of foreword planning has set us back years!
Look at how many houses were built in the 50’s and 60’s in Dublin when they had to re-house all the inner city tenement dwellers. Why can’t they do that again when we are the “richest” country in Europe.
Kip!
@Alan Biddulph: How in God’s name is Ireland the Richest country in Europe, we are in debt of over 2 hundred billion Euro.
Worth it I’d say
@James Padden: It means nothing to me
This means nothing to me
Oh,
@Dom Layzell: ….London??
@Ruth: Dead right Ruth, take a sweet from the box!
In Ireland “today, 17 per cent of our population comes from somewhere else. The last time that happened was probably the Plantation [of Ulster]. But this has been a different kind of absorption, and I think in general we have done a really, really wonderful job.” — Mary McAleese
More expensive than “All other cities in the UK” …ya wha?
To all these nutters here saying FFG this and that, they have very little control.
Dublin is a high wage capital city, look at the cities above it on the list and then look at the wages in those cities, very similar and some are actually worse.
Fact is you can’t really live permanently in Dublin unless your in a high value job and/or sharing accommodation with a few people.
Hence why I don’t live or work there anymore.
@Diarmaid O’Riordáin: I lived in Bern. People earn 2-3 times the average Irish wage there. The rents are comparable to Dublin to be honest, and in my case cheaper. A flat to myself with a stunning view of the alps for under 700€ including heating. It’s shameful what’s happening in Dublin
@Chloë Johnson: Yet lo and behold, like every country in the World it has its issues: https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/poverty-in-switzerland_broke-and-homeless-on-the-streets-of-zurich/41058006 in a country with the most dollar millionaires, isn’t that more shameful?
Swiss wealth is a very complex thing. For one it was an industrial early starter and was wealthy even by WW1 whereas Ireland was an impoverished backwater, and a new state.
https://countryeconomy.com/countries/compare/ireland/switzerland
@Niall Brew: I never said Switzerland was perfect. Just responding to the previous comment, which suggested that wages in the listed cities were comparable or less than Dublin. That’s absolutely false in the case of switzerland and probably inaccurate for the Scandinavian countries which I believe are typically high earning. That’s an interesting article, but since I’m also able to use google search, I’ve noticed that the percentage of Irish people living under the poverty line is more than double. I’m well aware of the source of Switzerland’s wealth, but thank you
Isn’t it obvious. We’re building offices for foreign workers faster than houses. Ergo: Housing shortage
Isn’t that just great for Irish Landlords who are now greater than their British counterparts of the famine era
“we caution that the period from 2004 to 2007 coincided with a once-off substantial expansion in the pool of available migrants, i.e. EU enlargement. It is not likely that a significant change as large as this will occur over the short to medium term. This means that Ireland is now competing for migrants with other European countries facing similarly tight domestic labour markets. Further, whilst migration inflows can assist in dampening wage growth, increased numbers of migrants will create overheating pressure in other areas of the economy, and particularly in the already congested housing market.” https://www.centralbank.ie/docs/default-source/publications/quarterly-bulletins/qb-archive/2019/quarterly-bulletin-q3-2019.pdf?sfvrsn=12#page=122
“Asked if he believes the current cost of houses and apartments available for rent is “unsustainable” and is making it almost impossible for people on the industrial wage and for others earning up to €50,000 a year to find homes, he (Conor O’Kelly, NTMA CEO) said: “Yes, I would agree with that.”
https://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/ntma-rental-property-bubble-unsustainable-472769.html
These lists are meaningless, its just a measure of relative currency strenght. The Euro has strenghtened relative to the pound, Aus dollar etc. It only mentions this half way down the article, click bait
Why did the Journal not report on this today?
Third highest quality of life in the world!
@joe: Yet it somehow featured in the IT. There is a very interesting graph on the 2019 UN Human Development Index website showing Ireland’s rise from the then EEC’s most impoverished nation to the world’s 3rd best place to live. From less than 900 euros annually in the late sixties to today’s 70,000+ is singularity remarkable. Credit to Seán Lemass and also to the I.D.A.
Where did Benidorm rank
‘..all other cities in the UK??’
Was this written by an English person?
I find Dublin fairly cheap… I bought my second house a short while ago at twenty eight years of age I hope to have my third by the time I am 33..if u work hard and donate money to charities good will come ur way….
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