If the dollar weakens against the local currency of a city, the city becomes more expensive and moves up the index, even if prices expressed in local currency remain the same or even go down.
The survey covered 214 cities across five continents and measures the comparative cost of over 200 items in each location, including housing, transport, food, clothing, household goods and entertainment.
Rank 1: Luanda
Luanda is the capital and the largest city of Angola.
It has an excellent natural harbour; the chief exports are coffee, cotton, sugar, diamonds, iron, and salt.
The city also has a thriving building industry, an effect of the nationwide economic boom experienced since 2002, when political stability returned with the end of the civil war.
Rank 2: Tokyo
Tokyo was originally a small fishing village named Edo.
It is one of the three world finance 'command centres', along with New York City and London.
Tokyo was rated by the Economist Intelligence Unit as the most expensive (highest cost-of-living) city in the world for 14 years in a row ending in 2006.The Tokyo Stock Exchange is Japan's largest stock exchange, and second largest in the world by market capitalisation.
Rank 3: N'Djamena
The largest city in Chad, N'Djamena is a port city on the Chari River, near the confluence with the Logone River.
It is a regional market for livestock, salt, dates, and grains.
Meat, fish and cotton processing are the chief industries, and the city continues to serve as the centre of economic activity in Chad.
Rank 4: Moscow
The city is named after the river Moskva.
Moscow is one of largest city economies in Europe and it comprises approximately 20 per cent of Russian gross domestic product.
In 2006, Mercer Human Resources Consulting named Moscow as the world's most expensive city for expatriate employees, ahead of Tokyo.
The Cherkizovskiy marketplace is the largest marketplace in Europe with daily turnover of about $30 million and about ten thousand sellers from different countries (including China, Turkey, Azerbaijan and India).
Primary industries in Moscow include chemical, metallurgy, food, textile, furniture, energy production, software development and machinery.
Rank 5: Geneva
Geneva's economy is mainly services oriented. The city has a finance sector, which specialises in private banking and financing of international trade. It is also an important centre of commodity trade.
Watchmakers, Baume et Mercier, Charriol, Chopard, Franck Muller, Patek Philippe, Gallet, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Rolex, Raymond Weil, Omega, Vacheron Constantin, and international producers of flavours and fragrances, Firmenich and Givaudan, have their headquarters in Geneva.
The Geneva Motor Show is one of the most important international auto-shows. The show is held at Palexpo, a giant convention centre located next to the International Airport.
It is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland.
Rank 6: Osaka
Osaka literally means 'large hill' or 'large slope'.Historically, Osaka was the centre of commerce in Japan.
However, many major companies have now moved their main offices to Tokyo. Panasonic, Sharp, Sanyo, video game maker Capcom are still headquartered in Osaka.
The Osaka Securities Exchange specialises in derivatives such as Nikkei 225 futures.
Rank 7: Zurich
Zurich is not only the largest city in Switzerland is also a leading financial centre.
The most important sector in the economy of Zurich is the service industry, which employs nearly four fifths of workers.
Other important industries include light industry, machine and textile industries and tourism. Most Swiss banks have their headquarters in Zurich.
The Swiss Stock Exchange, established in 1877, is one of the most important stock exchanges in the world.
Rank 8: Singapore
Singapore has a highly developed market-based economy. Along with Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan, Singapore is one of the Four Asian Tigers.
The economy depends heavily on exports and refining imported goods, especially in manufacturing.
Manufacturing constituted 26 per cent of Singapore's GDP in 2005.The manufacturing sector boasts of electronics, petroleum refining, chemicals, mechanical engineering and biomedical industries.
Singapore has one of the busiest ports in the world and is the world's fourth largest foreign exchange trading centre after London, New York City and Tokyo.
Rank 9: Hong Kong
Hong Kong was once described as the world's greatest experiment in laissez faire.
It still maintains a highly developed capitalist economy, ranked the freest in the world by the Index of Economic Freedom for 15 consecutive years.
Hong Kong's currency is the Hong Kong dollar, which has been pegged to the US dollar since 1983.
It imports most of its food and raw materials.
Much of its exports consist of re-exports, which are products made outside of the territory, especially in mainland China, and distributed via Hong Kong.
Rank 10: Sao Paolo
Sao Paulo, in Brazil, is transforming from a strong industrialised base into a service and technology-oriented offshoring location.
The city has a mix of global multinational executives who have their BPOs and contact centers providing IT services and R&D.
Brazilian exports are currently scaling new heights, its major export products being aircraft, coffee, automobiles, soybean, iron ore, orange juice, steel, ethanol, textiles, footwear, corned beef and electrical equipment.
