Barcelona and Madrid climb posts among the world's most expensive cities

The study 'Prices and wages', developed by the Swiss bank UBS, said that the first Spanish city among the most expensive in the world is Barcelona, which ranks 20. The second is Madrid, in the post 24. The study makes a comparison between 71 cities in the world.

The Catalan capital ahead eight positions compared to 2006, when it was held the last edition of the report, while Madrid progresses seven posts. The increase is partly due to the strength of the euro against the dollar.

Barcelona and Madrid are ahead of places like Los Angeles (28th), Chicago (29th) and Hong Kong (41th). American cities like New York (since 18th in 2008), Los Angeles (28th) or Chicago (29th), have fallen 11, 13 and 15 positions, respectively, due to "strong drop in the relative value of the dollar." Today, a shopping trip to the United States is an attractive proposal for the Europeans, "says UBS.

The same has happened to some Asian cities like Hong Kong, which has gone from position 27 in 2006 to 41, and Shanghai, which has dropped four seats from the 60 received in the previous edition.

However, the top of list remained virtually unchanged. So, Oslo continued as the world's most expensive city, followed by Copenhagen, which won a position on 2006, and London, which fell from second to third place.

Regarding hourly wages troops, both Madrid and Barcelona were kept in very similar positions, despite having climbed eight and seven seats respectively, among the most expensive cities. The Catalan capital succeeded in advancing a position on 2006, which remained in the post 26, while Madrid remained motionless at the scene 30.

As in the previous edition, Copenhagen, Oslo and Zurich occupy the first three positions, followed by Geneva, Dublin, Frankfurt, Brussels, Helsinki, Luxembourg and London.