According to the 2009 Mercer Worldwide Cost of Living survey of 143 cities, Tel Aviv remains the most expensive city in the Middle East. It was, however, the only city in the region to slide in the rankings. It dropped from 14th in 2008 to 17th place.

Moscow was ousted by Tokyo for the most expensive city in the world, falling to third behind Osaka. London dropped out of the top ten to 16th place.