Asia is the most expensive region for expats, with Hong Kong topping the list of high-priced cities worldwide, according to Mercer's 22nd annual cost of living survey. Four other Asian cities also made the top 10.
Hong Kong pushed Luanda to second place following the Angolan capital's three-year run in the top stop. That drop was caused by a weakening of the Angolan currency.
Nathalie Constantin-Metral, a principal at Mercer responsible for compiling the survey, noted currency fluctuations played a big part in the latest reshuffle.
"The strengthening of the yen pushed Japanese cities' cost of living ranking up," he said. "However, Chinese cities fell in the ranking because of the weakening of the yuan against the US dollar."
Zurich and Singapore remained in third and fourth place, respectively, whereas Tokyo was fifth, up six places from 11th last year. Kinshasa, ranked sixth, appeared in the top 10 for the first time, moving up from 13th place.
Rounding out the top 10 were Shanghai (seventh), Geneva (eighth), N'Djamena (ninth) and Beijing (10th). The world's least expensive cities for expatriates were Windhoek (209), Cape Town (208) and Bishkek (207).
Bangkok (74), Kuala Lumpur (151) and Hanoi (106) plummeted 39, 38, and 20 places, respectively, mainly because of their weakening currencies against the greenback, similar to Australian cities, which also witnessed dramatic falls in their rankings this year.
But while Shanghai fell one spot, Beijing fell three and Guangzhou (18) dropped three places, Shenzhen (12) moved up two notches.
Seoul for its part dropped seven spots to 15th.
By contrast, US cities mostly climbed up the ranking in line with the currency gains. New York moved up five places to 11th, while San Francisco (26) and Los Angeles (27) climbed 11 and nine places, respectively.
Several cities across Europe remained relatively steady due to the stability of the euro against the US dollar.
This year's ranking included 209 cities across five continents, measuring the comparative cost of more than 200 items in each location, including housing, transportation, food, clothing, household goods and entertainment.
The survey found factors such as currency fluctuations, cost inflation for goods and services, and instability of accommodation prices contributed to the cost of expatriate packages for employees on international assignments.
Mercer's survey is designed for multinational companies and governments to use for determining compensation strategies for their expatriate employees. New York City is used as the base city for all comparisons and currency movements are measured against the US dollar.
Mario Ferraro, global mobility chief in Asia, Middle East and Africa at Mercer, said many Asian cities remain among the world's most expensive places to deploy expatriates, but the region continues to offer growth potential and the demand for top talent remains high.
With the Asean Economic Community becoming official on Jan 1 this year, the region represents a US$2.6 trillion market and this continues to attract companies to Southeast Asia.