The cost of living in China's first-tier cities is now among the highest in the world, according to a survey by consulting company Mercer.

咨询公司美世的一项调查显示，如今中国一线城市的生活成本已经处于全球最高水平。

Hong Kong has passed Luanda to take the top spot as the world's most expensive city for expatriates.

香港已超越罗安达成为对外派人员来说世界上生活成本最为昂贵的城市。

Shanghai and Beijing ranked 7th and 9th respectively on the list, while Shenzhen took 12th place and Guangzhou 15th.

上海和北京分列榜单第7位和第9位，深圳列第12位，广州列第15位。

The survey includes more than 375 cities throughout the world and measures the comparative cost of more than 200 items in each location, including housing, transportation¹, food, clothing, household goods and entertainment.

调查涵盖了全球超过375个城市，衡量了每个城市包括住房、交通、食物、服饰、家居用品和娱乐在内的超过200项指标的相对成本。

But according to the Global Liveability Index 2018 by the Economist² Intelligence Unit that measures the best or the worst living conditions in cities around the world, despite its high costs Hong Kong ranked 35th, followed by Suzhou (74th), Beijing (75th), Tianjin (77th) and Shanghai (81st).

然而，根据经济学人智库发布的衡量全球最宜居及最不宜居城市的2018全球宜居性指数，虽然生活成本高昂，香港的宜居性却排在第35位，接下来是苏州（第74位）、北京（第75位）、天津（第77位）以及上海（第81位）。