These Are The World's Most Expensive Cities To Live In

Attention, Singaporeans: If your wallet feels lighter than it used to, there's a good reason for it. Through no fault of your own, you're spending way more money than the rest of us.

Singapore has the unfortunate (or at least unaffordable) distinction of being the world's most expensive city to live in, according to a report released Thursday by the Economist Intelligence Unit, a research and analysis group associated with The Economist magazine. The "worldwide cost of living survey" sums up the costs of living in cities around the world as of September, 2015, then compares them both to other cities, and each city's cost of living one, five and 10 years ago.

Zurich and Hong Kong both tied for the number two spot, with Geneva and Paris ranking fourth and fifth, respectively.

Surprisingly, with the exception of New York City (which ranked seventh and was used as a baseline) and Hong Kong, all of the world's ten most expensive cities had a lower cost of living in 2015 than they did five years earlier.

Tokyo's costs also dropped significantly from 2010, when it was the world's most expensive city. It now ranks 11th -- far from "affordable," yet still a better bargain than London, Los Angeles, Seoul and Copenhagen, the other cities which round out the top ten:

1. Singapore
2. Zurich (tied for 2nd)
3. Hong Kong (tied for 2nd)
4. Geneva
5. Paris
6. London
7. New York
8. Copenhagen (tied for 8th)
9. Seoul (tied for 8th)
10. Los Angeles (tied for 8th)

Most cities have seen a decrease in the cost of living over the past five years, an occurrence The Economist says can be explained by "falling commodity prices, currency devaluations and geopolitical uncertainty."

In the U.S., however, a strong dollar has buoyed costs, bumping all of the cities up in the rankings. Per the report, New York City's number seven spot is the first time the metropolis has cracked the top ten in the last 14 years. Following New York and LA, here are the next ten most costly cities in the U.S., along with their global ranking:

21. Chicago
24. Minneapolis
26. Washington, D.C.
31. Houston
34. San Francisco
42. Seattle
46. Honolulu
46. Pittsburgh
49. Miami
56. Boston

According to the report , the cities that have seen the largest cost of living decreases in the last year are St. Petersburg and Moscow. The Russian cities dropped 51 and 63 slots in the rankings, respectively, thanks to a 40 percent decline in living costs.