Dublin named as one of Europe’s most expensive cities

Rory Fleming

The capital was also named the 38th most expensive city worldwide.

A new study has named Dublin as the 9th most expensive city in Europe, rising four places from the previous year.

The study, which was conducted by ECA International, also listed the nation’s capital as the 38th most expensive city globally, an increase of six places from 2022.

In order to calculate the rankings, a basket of like-for-like consumer goods and services which are commonly purchased worldwide, such as sugar and coffee, were tabulated.

Dublin’s increase in this year’s rankings has been put down to Ireland’s rising rate of inflation, with the Consumer Price Index climbing 7.7% between March 2022 and March 2023.

Three Swiss cities made the top 5 list, with Geneva remaining Europe’s most expensive city for a successive year, being joined by Zurich (3rd) and the capital Bern (4th).

Ireland’s rising inflation rates have been labelled the route cause of Dublin’s rise in the rankings. (Credit: Getty Images)

London ranked as the continent’s second most costly city, with Copenhagen placing fifth and rounding off an unchanged top 5 from the previous year’s rankings.

Dublin’s sharp rise in expenses is not an anomaly though, with two-thirds of Eurozone cities seeing their cost of living ranking ratchet up in the global list, with only French and Scandinavian cities seemingly staving off dramatic rises.

Reacting to the news on Newstalk’s The Hard Shoulder, Martin Harte, the CEO of the Temple Bar Company, said that Dublin does offer value for money.

“Capital cities tend to be more expensive, no matter where you go or what you do. I’m not going to say Dublin can’t be expensive, but what I do think you find is value for money if you look”.

“There is value to be found: yes Dublin is expensive, capital cities are expensive, but we don’t want to be cheap”, Harte added.

“We don’t want to be a cheap destination; it does cost a little bit more money to do things a little better but there are a huge amount of value added (options)”.

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