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Tel Aviv has overtaken Paris, as well as Hong Kong and Zurich, to become the world’s most expensive city, The Independent reports, citing new research.

The Israeli city climbed five spots in just 12 months to beat last year’s previous three joint “winners” in the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU)’s annual Worldwide Cost of Living (WCOL) index.

The French capital was relegated to second place, a spot it shares this year with Singapore, while Zurich and Hong Kong are ranked fourth and fifth respectively.

London climbed three places from its 2020 ranking, coming in 17th up from 20th.

The EIU’s WCOL index tracks the cost of living across 173 cities all over the world; this year’s report found that the inflation rate of the prices tracked is the fastest recorded in the past five years.

On average, prices for the goods and services covered by WCOL have risen by 3.5 per cent year-on-year in local currency terms, compared to an increase of just 1.9 per cent this time last year.

Transport costs have risen most rapidly of all the categories covered by the survey, mainly due to increasing oil prices.