Wow! According to a recent survey of cost of living( www.numbeo.com) , my town back in Norway is the most expensive city in the world.

Based on 45 goods and services, Numbeo.com cost of living survey for beginning of 2012 were conducted by more than 23000 independent contributors who entered more than 241000 prices. The most expensive cities (excluding rent) are Trondheim and Stavanger in Norway, followed by Zurich in Switzerland.

In Numbeo’s survey, New York is used as the base city for the index and scores 100 points, all cities are compared against New York and currency movements are measured against US Dollar and EURO. Tokyo (Japan) scores 135.23 points and is nearly three times as costly as Manila (Philippines) with 47.34 points.

In the 2012, the most expensive cities (excluding rent) are :

– Trondheim, Norway (188.91)
– Stavanger, Norway (171.32)
– Zurich, Switzerland (152.84)
– Oslo, Norway (152.03)
– Geneva, Switzerland (146.24)
– Bern, Switzerland (142.44)
– Lucerne, Switzerland (139.94)
– Perth, Australia (139.63)
– Bergen, Norway (138.79)
– Tokyo, Japan (135.23)
– Sydney, Australia (132.39)
– Adelaide, Australia (129.60)
– Monaco, Monaco (128.15)
– Copenhagen, Denmark (123.82)
– Edinburgh, United Kingdom (122.52)
– Melbourne, Australia (121.53)
– Dublin, Ireland (119.56)
– London, United Kingdom (118.52)
– Arhus, Denmark (115.96)
– Canberra, Australia (115.89)

http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/rankings_current.jsp