Tel Aviv has been named the world's most expensive city to live in

Rising grocery, transport and alcohol prices put Tel Aviv at the top of the list.  (Reuters: Nir Elias)

Last year, Tel Aviv was the fifth-most expensive city in the world to live in. 

But the Economist Intelligence Unit's (EIU) latest Cost of Living survey says the Israeli city is now the costliest on the planet. 

Why is it so expensive?

The EUI's World Wide Cost of Living Report puts it down to a few things. 

First off, the Israeli currency, the shekel, has been very strong, which makes local prices more expensive when they're converted into US dollars. 

And while the average price increase was fairly tame at 1.6 per cent, the EUI says prices for about one-tenth of goods skyrocketed.

Among those steep increases were groceries, transport and alcohol (booze prices in Tel Aviv are the second-highest in the world).

It's thought the pandemic is at least partly to blame, with coronavirus shutdowns disrupting supply chains that pushed up the price of a whole range of goods. 

The EIU survey works by comparing the prices of 200 products and services — such as food prices, utility bills and transport costs — across 173 cities globally. 

Those prices are converted into the US dollar as a central currency and weighted individually so they can be compared easily. 

Which other cites topped the list?

Paris and Singapore tied in second place, with the French capital being in the top spot last year. 

The general trend was for developed Asian cities and European capitals to take out the top spots, with North American and Chinese cities being "relatively moderately priced". 

Here are the cities in order of most expensive to least expensive: 

1. 1.Tel Aviv
2. 2.Paris and Singapore 
3. 3.Zurich 
4. 4.Hong Kong 
5. 5.New York
6. 6.Geneva 
7. 7.Copenhagen
8. 8.Los Angeles
9. 9.Osaka 

What about the cheapest cities in the world?

The EIU says Damascus "easily retained its place" as the cheapest of the 173 cities to live in, with ongoing conflicts hampering the Syrian economy. 

The Syrian capital was at the very bottom of seven of the EIU's 10 pricing categories and very close to the bottom in the other three categories.

Here's the list of cities from cheapest to more expensive:

1. 1.Damascus (Syria)  
2. 2.Tripoli (Libya)
3. 3.Tashkent (Uzbekistan)
4. 4.Tunis (Tunisia)
5. 5.Almaty (Kazakhstan)
6. 6.Karachi (Pakistan)
7. 7.Ahmedabad (India)
8. 8.Algiers (Algeria)
9. 9.Buenos Aires (Argentina)
10. 10. Lusaka (Zambia) 

Where did the Australian cities rank?

We don't have their official ranking in comparison to other global cities, but here's how they ranked for Australia.

It's probably no surprise that Sydney's the most expensive: 

1. 1.Sydney
2. 2.Melbourne
3. 3.Brisbane
4. 4.Adelaide 
5. 5.Perth