Athens ranks as the 71st most expensive city worldwide in Mercer Human Resource Consulting’s first cost of living survey for 2003, against 111st place last year. Using New York as a base measure of 100, the semi-annual survey, which covers 144 cities, compares the cost of more than 200 items in each location, including housing, food, clothing, household goods, transport and entertainment. Athens, one place below Brussels, measures 72.9, but ranks much higher than cities like Glasgow, Toronto, Barcelona, Madrid and Hamburg. Tokyo, measuring 126.1, has replaced Hong Kong as the world’s most expensive city, with Moscow in second place, according to the survey; London is the most expensive EU city, measuring 101.3. Asuncion, Paraguay, has replaced Johannesburg as the least expensive city in the survey, measuring 36.5.