Mercer, an international human resource consulting firm, recently published the latest version of its survey for HR managers of expatriate employees.

Mercer’s Cost of Living Survey 2008, using New York as the base with a score of 100.0, ranks 143 cities worldwide. Buenos Aires is in 138th place (score 62.7) up slightly from 2007 rank of 139th. Moscow continued this year as the most expensive city.

In the neighborhood

Other South America Cities were among the lowest worldwide.  For the sixth year running Asunción, Paraguay is the least expensive (score 52.5), followed by Quito, Ecuador at 142nd (score 54.6), and Montevideo, Uruguay  at 136th (score 63.2).

Meanwhile, Brazil has two cities among the most expensive with São Paulo taking the 25th spot with a score of 97.0 and Rio de Janeiro at 31st with 95.2.

A bit on methodology

Mercer used a basket of over 200 goods amongst these categories:

• Alcohol and tobacco
• Clothing and footwear
• Domestic services
• Food at home
• Food away from home
• Personal care
• Household supplies
• Sports and leisure
• Transportation
• Utilities

Costs for goods and services were sampled from standards and contexts likely to be consumed by foreigners, many on employer-provided expat packages.

For example, prices for a cup of coffee with service were sampled from “bars and cafés of international standard frequented by expatriates” according to a Mercer research manager.

The BA basket

Though not as cheap as a few years ago, cafe-plentiful Buenos Aires’ cost of coffee  came in the lowest at U$D 2.03, much less than Paris at $6.77 and Moscow’s $10.19.

Other costs for BA weren’t quite the bargain. An international newspaper was among the highest, as were costs of a music CD. A fast food hamburger meal was little cheaper than Moscow, where it’s a relative bargain. Monthly rent for a luxury two bedroom unfurnished apartment, while roughly a third the price of London, wm New York Moscow or Tokyo, still about the same as in European capitals like Berlin and Brussels.

More info

While the complete survey can be purchased from Mercer for USD 585 / EUR 450 (plus S&H & applicable taxes), though much of the data can be found online. One good source is this Irish Site (costs converted to Euros)

Readers, respond!

What have you experienced in Buenos Aires? How do – and which – costs compare to those in other cities, what you expected or remember from a few years ago? Respond in the comments.