Taipei ranked the 44th most expensive city worldwide and sixth in the Asia-Pacific region, according to the latest data released by UBS Wealth Management Research on Wednesday.
UBS publishes an in-depth survey titled Prices and Earnings every three years.
The study covers three categories — price levels, wage levels and domestic purchasing power — among the 73 cities surveyed worldwide.
Taipei ranked sixth in the Asia-Pacific region in the price level category, trailing behind Tokyo, Sydney, Singapore, Seoul and Hong Kong, the report showed.
Oslo remained the most expensive city in the world. Zurich came in second, followed by Geneva, Copenhagen, Stockholm and Tokyo.
In the wage-level category, Taipei ranked 40th, behind Sydney, Tokyo and Seoul in the region, but ahead of Hong Kong and Singapore.
Zurich, Geneva and Copenhagen topped the global charts in wage levels.
UBS said a common impression among Taiwanese was that the average wage levels in Hong Kong and Singapore were higher than those in Taiwan, but that only applies to executives.
The UBS survey centered on the average wage, with Taipei coming out higher.
As for domestic purchasing power, Taipei was in 33rd position, leading Hong Kong, Seoul and Singapore in the Asia-Pacific region.
The top three cities worldwide were Zurich, Sydney and Luxembourg.
Domestic purchasing power is determined by comparing price levels against wage levels and, as a result, high wage levels do not always equate to high purchasing power, UBS said.
For example, Luxembourg placed 13th and eighth in terms of price and wage levels respectively, but it ranked among the world’s top three in terms of purchasing power.
UBS also launched a free iPhone application of “Prices and Earnings.” With the app, prices of a wide range of commodities could be compared in select cities, with the exchange rates updated several times a day so that users can follow price fluctuations promptly.
UBS said that because of the hammering that the US dollar suffered over the past year, it chose the euro as the base currency for the study. The euro appreciated against all currencies except the Swiss franc and Australian dollar, it said.
In the survey, New York was set as the base for price levels, wage levels and domestic purchasing power.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last