Even though everyone who lives in Toronto has likely already come to terms that the city is incredibly expensive to live in, a new report reveals that it is apparently not so bad in comparison to other cities across the globe.
Economist Intelligence - a research division and sister company to The Economist newspaper - put out its Worldwide Cost of Living Report for 2021, where it explored the living costs of 173 cities all around the world.
EIU compares over 400 individual prices across 200 products and services in all of these cities, and they have been conducting this survey twice a year for more than the last three decades.
So, where does the 6ix stack up?
EIU
Toronto places at 79th worldwide tying with Prague in the Czech Republic. While it doesn't even rank in the top 50 most expensive places to live in, EIU noted that it is quickly climbing up the list as it moved up eight places from the previous study.
Of all of the cities considered in the report, Tel Aviv snagged the gold medal for the most expensive place to live in globally. EIU said this is largely due to the shekel appreciating in value (plus, compared to other cities it is the second-most expensive place to buy alcohol and for transport.)
Paris, which had this pricy honour last year, is now pushed down to second alongside Singapore.
EIU
Damascus in Syria is the cheapest global city to live in due to its war-torn economy.
The 2021 report noted that the rate of inflation boomed across the world. The prices that they track apparently rose up so quickly that it was the fastest that they've recorded over the last five years. Part of the reason for the rising costs of goods and commodities is due to issues with the supply chain, exchange rates, and even with the changes in consumer demand.
The report predicts that living costs will continue to rise in many cities worldwide over the coming year.
"Inflationary expectations are also likely to feed into wage rises, further fuelling price rises," the report states.
Not all hope is lost though.
"We forecast that global consumer price inflation will average 4.3% in 2022, down from 5.1% in 2021 but still substantially higher than in recent years. If supply-chain disruptions die down and lockdowns ease as expected, then the situation should improve towards the end of 2022, stabilising the cost of living in most major cities," the report adds.