Amsterdam has become less expensive for expats to live in, according to the annnual ranking published by the Mercer consultancy agency. The Dutch capital ranks 57th, seven places down on last year.

The most expensive city to reside in as an expat is Tokyo. The Japanese have pushed last year's number one, Luanda i Angola, down to second position.

Amsterdam is not the only city to drop this year; Many European cities have become a little cheaper for their expat residents.

A spokesperson for the consultancy explained that "this is mainly due to the unstable economic situation across Europe, which has led to the depreciation of most local currencies against the US dollar. Countries badly hit by the Eurozone crisis, including Greece, Italy and Spain, have also experienced drops in rental accommodation prices."

This could also explain why the top-10 still mentions Moscow (4), Geneva (5) and Zürich (6) as pretty costly places to live: they are all outside of the euro currency zone.

At the other end of the list, the cheapest city - number 214 on the list - is Karachi. Expat life there costs about a third of what it does in Tokyo.

(rk/ae)

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