Tel Aviv is the Middle East’s most expensive city and the 31st most expensive city in the world for expatriates, according to a new Mercer Cost of Living survey. A similar survey last year by MCA placed Tel Aviv in the 29th spot, while Mercer ranked Tel Aviv in the 18th place.

Tokyo and Luanda, the capital of Angola, were ranked in the first two places respectively, followed by Moscow, Geneva and Zurich. New York was ranked two places behind Tel Aviv.

Karachi is the cheapest, less than a third as expensive as the Japanese capital.

The presence of Luanda, Khartoum, and Libreville, the capital of Gabon, as some of the most expensive places was explained by Mercer’s Nathalie Constantin-Métral, quoted by the Associated Press.

“It might be surprising to see 20 African cities in the top third of the ranking,” she said. “The main driver behind this is the difficulty finding good, secure accommodation for expatriates. So the limited supply of acceptable accommodation is very expensive. The cost of imported international goods is also high, contributing to many regional cities moving up the ranking.”

London is the most expensive city in Great Britain for expatriates, and Belfast is the cheapest.