Lagos fell 16 places to #132 (of 140) in the Economist Intelligence Unit’s 2017 Worldwide Cost of Living Survey as the fall in global oil prices drove a collapse in the value of the Nigerian Naira. This pushed down relative pricing, despite strong local inflation. Nigeria’s largest city was published alongside other cities at the bottom of the list including Almaty in Kazakstan, Karachi in Pakistan and Mumbai in India.

The EIU’s Worldwide Cost of Living is a bi-annual survey that compares more than 400 individual prices across 160 products and services including food, drink, clothing, household supplies, personal care items, home rents, transport, utility bills, private schools, domestic help and recreational costs. Researchers survey a range of stores: supermarkets, mid-priced stores and higher-priced specialty outlets where prices gathered are then converted into USD $ using the prevailing exchange rate and weighted in order to achieve comparative indices.

Singapore retained its title as the world’s most expensive city for a fourth consecutive year while Hong Kong remained second, closely followed by Zurich.

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