The folks over at Mercer Worldwide have published their annual survey of the world's most expensive cities for expatriates and Paris has dropped from number 12 to number 13, cheaper than New York but more expensive than London. Interestingly, they've also rated the cost of a fast food hamburger meal in these same spots and the numbers are completely different. In that ranking, Dublin is the most expensive and Tokyo (which took top honors overall) drops to eighth. Paris tied for fourth place with Brussels. (Chalk it up to the ubiquity of McDonald's worldwide that they even have the data for such analysis.)
And for those with a jones for statistics, here are a number of other facts you may find interesting:
The population of Paris is 2.1 million.
The population of Ile de France (Paris plus its surrounding suburban communities) is 10.5 million.
The Louvre is host to 5 million visitors annually.
The number of trips taken on the subway annually is a whopping 1.365 billion.
There are 37 bridges crossing the Seine in Paris alone.
There are 1,200 museums in France.
The French spend 15 percent of their income on food; American spend only about 10 percent on food.
Only 18 percent of Americans are smokers compared with 27 percent of the French.
The average annual rainfall in Paris is 25 inches, which is actually way less than DC (39.3 inches). I tried in vain to find comparative international statistics on days of sunshine which I thought might be more illuminating.
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4 comments:
More expensive than London? Impossible!
I would have to question the ranking of Paris and London. I can't think of anything that costs less in London. I was surprised by the number of places that rose from the high 70s and 80s to the top 50. And I noticed that Fort Lauderdale wasn't even on the list.
I think the relative weakness of the pound plays an important role here. But it's Mercer's methodology to defend, not mine. The economic crisis has lots of companies rethinking their expat packages and expenses.
Speaking from personal experience having moved here from London a year ago, Paris is much more expensive. The only thing cheaper here is the Metro. I do all my shopping in London.
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