Mumbai was named by Savills Word Research as the cheapest city to live and work in the world. In 2015, living in Mumbai cost up to $29,088 a year. For comparison, living in London which is currently the world's most expensive city to live in, costs up to $118,425.
In December 2008, the cost of living and working in Mumbai was $28,394 per year. By June 2015, the amount rose to $29,088.
Mumbai is the financial hub of India and has always been the capital of the country's economic activity. It lures investors from both within the country and across different nations in the world. Recently, the economy in Mumbai has flourished due to new industrial and commercial development.
Being the backbone of India's economy, the properties and housing units in Mumbai are relatively expensive compared with other cities in the country. The city is known to have the most expensive real estate market and cost of living in India. However, among other metropolitan cities of the world, Mumbai ranked as the cheapest to live in and work. It is followed by Shanghai which has a cost of living that amounts up to $38,089.
On the other hand, the most expensive cities to live and work in the world are London, Hong Kong and New York. In the past year, Hong Kong has shown a 0.4 percent increase in its cost of living while New York saw a significant rise of 28.4 percent. In London, the cost of residential and office space rental for each individual has reached $118,425 in the first half of 2015, showing a 20.7 percent growth from the year 2008.
The city which has seen a tremendous increase in terms of cost of living is San Francisco. By the end of 2015, it saw a 59.8 percent increase from the average cost of living in 2008.
