Switzerland world’s most expensive country to live in with Norway, Iceland second and third

TOKYO: Switzerland has been named the world's most expensive country, with Norway second and Iceland third.

The Alpine nation was ranked first in a study of 132 countries which measured the cost of goods including groceries, clothes and taxi fares. Denmark and Luxembourg also featured in a Europe-heavy top ten, along with Japan, the Bahamas, Israel, Singapore and South Korea.

The United States was 20th in the list compiled by the CEOWORLD business magazine, with the UK seven places lower in 27th. Experts measured countries by a range of living costs including accommodation, clothing, taxi fares, utility, internet, the price of groceries, transport, and eating out.

They used the cost of living in notoriously expensive New York City as a benchmark, assigning it an index score of 100. Only three countries - Switzerland, Norway and Iceland - were ranked as being more expensive than New York.