全球城市生活成本排名 東京跌出前十

Tokyo is on the wane. After holding the dubious title of the world’s most expensive city for expats for much of the past two decades, Japan’s biggest metropolis no longer even makes the top 10.

東京正在走下坡路。過去20年的很大一部分時間裏，東京都擁有外僑眼中全球生活成本最高城市的“殊榮”。如今，這座日本最大的都市甚至未能躋身前十名。

At least those are the findings of the annual cost of living survey by consultants Mercer. The reason behind its demise — Tokyo slid from seventh to 11th spot after occupying third spot in 2013 rankings — was the weakness of the yen against the US dollar over the past year.

至少，這是諮詢公司美世(Mercer)在其生活成本年度調查中得出的結論。東京從第七名滑落至第11名，而2013年這座城市還曾佔據第三名的位置。東京排名下滑背後的原因是，過去一年裏日元相對美元走軟。

Indeed, exchange rate fluctuations have played havoc with the 2015 rankings, which are now in their 21st year.

事實上，匯率波動讓2015年排行榜的座次發生了很大變化。今年是美世第21年發佈這一排行榜。

“Currency movements will always play a really big part in the rankings but the impact this year has been particularly acute,” said Kate Fitzpatrick, a consultant at Mercer.

美世諮詢師凱特•菲茨帕特里克(Kate Fitzpatrick)表示：“匯率波動總是會對排名產生很大影響，但今年它的影響格外突出。”

Both the yen and the euro have weakened markedly against the US dollar and Chinese renminbi, while the Swiss franc has also strengthened after the surprise lifting of its currency cap at the start of the year.

日元和歐元相對美元和人民幣都已大幅走軟。此外，今年初瑞士出人意料取消匯率上限後，瑞士法郎的匯率也已走強。

As a result, Zurich and Geneva have both moved up one place to occupy two of the five top spots in the rankings. Bern slid one place to ninth but only because of a strong showing from Shanghai, Beijing and Seoul.

因此，蘇黎世和日內瓦雙雙上升一位，在前五名中佔據兩席。瑞士首都伯爾尼下滑一位至第九名，但這完全是因爲上海、北京和首爾的表現太過搶眼。