Tashkent places third in Central Asia in global cost of living ranking

The ranking covers 549 cities worldwide, with Uzbekistan’s capital placed 488th overall.

Tashkent received a score of 31.2, making it the third most expensive city in Central Asia after Almaty, which scored 40.1, and Astana, with 34.5 points. Dushanbe ranked fourth in the region with 29.9 points, followed closely by Bishkek on 29.7.

Globally, Zurich topped the ranking with a score of 123.4, followed by Basel at 111.9. George Town, the capital of the Cayman Islands, also ranked among the world’s most expensive cities.

At the opposite end of the index, more than 10 Indian cities were listed among the least expensive places to live, with scores ranging from 17.3 to 18.8.

The index uses New York City as its benchmark, assigning it a score of 100. A score above 100 indicates that the cost of living is higher than in New York, while a lower score reflects a cheaper cost of living. Based on this methodology, living costs in Zurich are estimated to be 23.4% higher than in New York, whereas Tashkent is 68.8% less expensive.

Numbeo calculates the index using several indicators, including housing rent, food prices, restaurant costs, and local purchasing power.