Top 10 Most Expensive Cities in 2011

The city with the highest cost of living in the world is not New York or Tokyo, but Luanda, Angola.

Those complaining about the high rent prices in their home cities may want to look at Mercer's 2011 ranking of the world's most expensive cities.

Surprised that the Angolan capital is at the top? Well, 2011 is actually the second year in a row that Luanda was deemed the most expensive locus, jumping to first in 2010 after being unranked in 2009.

The sudden lift, which was experience by other African cities on the list, such as Livrevilla, Gabon and Victoria, Seychelles, is a good indicator that a country once ravaged by war and instability is on the rise.

The consulting company used cost measurements primarily based on two factors. The first was the local currency's strength compared to the U.S. dollar over a one-year period. The second was the rise (or fall) of the cost of goods in a city over a one-year period.

The US dollar has weakened significantly against some currencies, including the Singapore dollar, the Brazilian real, and the Malaysian ringgit. So the Cost of Living indices for US expatriates will continue to increase to reflect the need to use more US dollars to buy the same number of host currency units, Mercer said in a statement.

Click through to see the Top 10.

The United States didn't even break the top 25. New York was the most expensive city in America, which should come as a surprise to no one, except maybe people living in San Francisco. New York was 32nd internationally.