Numbeo.com, a global statistics website, recently released its global cost of living index (CoLI) in which it compares cities worldwide based on their scores in the index when benchmarked to New York City. It also provides the values of four other indices namely the Rent Index, the Groceries Price Index, the Restaurant Price Index, and the Local Purchasing Power Index for each city, always when benchmarked to the city of New York. According to Numbeo’s latest statistics, 4 Swiss cities emerged among the most expensive cities in the world, occupying 4 of the top 5 positions, with Zurich ranking first with a Cost of Living index score of 123.1, Lucerne coming in third (score of 112.7), Basel coming in fourth (score of 111.9), and Geneva occupying the fifth place (score of 111.3). George Town, Cayman Islands held the second place in the index with a CoLI score of 116.5. Zurich’s CoLI value of 123.1 implies that prices in Zurich are 23.1% more expensive than those in New York City (which ranked 12^th globally). Regionally, Dubai was the most expensive Arab city on the Mid-2026 Numbeo’s list with a CoLI value of 62.5 (ranking 232^nd in the world), followed by Abu Dhabi, UAE (CoLI value of 55.1 and global rank of 283) and Beirut (CoLI value of 54.6 and global rank of 287). Therefore, prices in Beirut are 45.4% less expensive than those in New York City. Beirut also scored 20.8 in the Rent Price Index (implying that rent prices in Beirut are 79.2% less expensive than those in New York City), 47.2 in the Groceries Price Index (therefore prices of grocery items in Beirut are 52.8% lower than those in New York City), 53.3 in the Restaurant Price Index (implying restaurant prices in Beirut are 46.7% less expensive than in New York), and 32.00 in the Local Purchasing Power Index (meaning that the local purchasing power is 68.0% lower than that in New York City).

The historical evolution of the CoLI shows that prices in Beirut have generally been increasing over the period extending between Mid-2020 and Mid-2022 before starting their setback. The hike in the CoLI values between the years 2020 and 2022 owes to the hyperinflationary environment, which followed the drastic devaluation of the Lebanese pound against the US dollar. The CoLI, however, dropped to 54.0 as at mid-2023 and reached a lower value of 45.2 in mid-2024 before it corrected to 45.5 in mid-2025 and to 54.6 in mid-2026 fueled by inflationary pressure in the aftermath of the conflict in the Middle East.