Tokyo has regained the unenviable title of the world's most expensive city for expatriates, while the eurozone crisis has made many European cities cheaper, according to a survey published on Tuesday.

At the other end of the scale, the survey by the Mercer group named the Pakistani port Karachi as the least expensive city, with living costs around three times cheaper than in the Japanese capital.

The report, published annually to help companies assess compensation allowances for expatriate workers, compared the cost of over 200 items in 214 cities, using New York as a reference. The items on the list included housing, food and transport.

Tokyo pushed the oil-boom Angolan capital Luanda into second place to retake the top spot in the survey. Another Japanese city, Osaka, came third, the Russian capital Moscow in fourth, and Geneva fifth.

Cities in the eurozone slid in the rankings as the euro has slid against the US dollar during the debt crisis. Paris dropped 10 spots to 37th, Rome fell eight to 42nd, and Athens tumbled 24 to 77th.

London slipped from 18th in the table one year ago down to 25th place.

Six Australian major cities are among the top 30 because of a stronger Australian dollar, according to Mercer.

The survey showed that the six cities had all experienced further jumps up the global list since 2011, with Sydney ranked 11th and Melbourne 15th, whereas Perth and Canberra both jumped 11 places to numbers 19 and 23.

Brisbane rose by seven places to take 24th position while Adelaide moved up 19 places to 27th.

Australia now has three surveyed cities in the top 20 and all six surveyed cities in the top 30, Mercer said.

Sydney has become the most expensive Australian city for expatriates.

"Demand for rental properties has also increased significantly in all the Australian cities we rank," Mercer principal Nathalie Constantin-Metral said in a statement.

"Coupled with very limited availability, the result has been very tight markets and increased prices."

Shanghai climbed five places to 16th and Beijing moved up three places to 17th, overtaking Seoul.

Shenzhen rose by 13 places to 30th while Guangzhou was up seven places to 31st.

(Read by Nelly Min. Nelly Min is a journalist at the China Daily Website.)

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(Agencies)