These are the world’s most expensive countries to live in

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By James Gabriel Martin, Lonely Planet

From its crystal clear lakes, rolling pristine hills and alpine valleys to its charming towns and handsome cities, Switzerland is a stunning place to visit. But as anyone who has journeyed there can attest – it is pricey. So much so in fact, that a new study has named it the most expensive destination in the world to live in.

Switzerland came out on the top of the list © L. Toshio Kishiyama / Getty Images

According to a new study published by Ceoworld Magazine, European countries took a significant number of the top spots on the most expensive list, with nine of the top-twenty nations being on the continent. The rankings were based on five different categories that were studied, with the data focusing on cost of living, rent, the price of groceries, the cost of eating out and purchasing power. Data was then added into an index, using New York City as a control to measure each destination against. The Big Apple was given a score of 100, meaning that any country higher than that was more expensive than it.

Switzerland came out in number one position, with a 122.4 on the cost of living index. It racked up large numbers in the cost of restaurants and groceries categories. Second on the list of the world’s most expensive countries to live in was Norway, followed by Iceland, Japan, Denmark, Bahamas, Luxembourg, Israel, Singapore and South Korea. Five of the countries in the top twenty were in Asia while one was in North America, one in Africa, two in the Caribbean and two in Oceania. The United States of America ranked at number 20.

Norway came second in the overall ranking © Nedomacki / Getty Images

Pakistan was named the cheapest country to live in, followed by Afghanistan, India, Syria, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tunisia and Venezuela.

Ceoworld Magazine collected data from a range of different studies, consumer price indexes, cost of living data and international media sources. The range of living costs that were focused on included bills, transport, clothing and accommodation.