World’s most expensive cities to live in: In a recent poll comparing the cost of living worldwide, Singapore ranked number one as the costliest place to live in the planet. The 2014 Worldwide Cost of Living Survey noted that Paris, Oslo, Zurich, Sydney and Tokyo were the next most expensive cities in the world.

In a report by BBC, it also said that the city-state in Asia is also the most expensive place in the world to buy clothes.

The new label Singapore has been due to its strong currency, the high cost of owning a car in the country, and the price to pay for utilities. Rounding up the top 10 are Caracas, Geneva, Melbourne, and Copenhagen. Switzerland is the only country that has two cities in the most expensive cities to live in ranking.

Ten years ago, Singapore was ranked number 18, but it has steadily crept up the rankings. It dethroned Tokyo, which has suffered from a natural calamity and several economic hiccups. Singapore has become the most expensive place in the world to buy clothes due to an influx of luxury brands and expensive shopping malls and boutiques.

BBC reported that the top 10 cities on this year’s list have been dominated by Asian and Australian cities, including some in Europe. Most of the Asian cities high on the list are there for predominantly higher costs of groceries.

According to CNBC, the EIU’s cost of living survey is a relocation tool that uses New York, the 26th most expensive city in the world, as a base. The survey to determine the most expensive cities to live in compares prices on a range of goods and services including food, drink, clothing, rent and utility bills across 131 cities.

The news site noted that a high cost of living has become a hot button issue in the wealthy Southeast Asian country. Singapore has one of the biggest wealth disparities in the developed world in terms of its Gini coefficient.

It’s important to note that both the most expensive city in the world to live in and the cheapest can be found in Asia. Based on the rankings, Mumbai, India’s financial center as well as Karachi and New Delhi, were the top three least expensive cities in the world.

A separate survey by Hotels.com, which ranked the cost of a hotel club sandwich, named Geneva as the most expensive place to live in the world. In the report, it noted that visitors in the city are most likely to shell out an average of $32.60 for a classic hotel staple.