BEIJING - The results of an independent survey showed that employees of international companies who are living in Beijing and Shanghai have comparatively higher living costs than their colleagues in New York City.

According to a survey conducted by Mercer Investment Consulting (MIC), living costs in Beijing and Shanghai led the cities to be ranked 20th and 21st out of 214 global cities, with housing expenses accounting for most of the expenses in those two cities.

Beijing fell from last year's ranking of 16th, while Shanghai jumped from last year's ranking of 25th. New York City ranks 32nd. Angola's capital of Luanda remains the most expensive city globally for expatriates and Pakistani's city of Karachi is the cheapest, according to the 2011 survey.

Lisa Deng, Mercer's China market manager, said Friday that compared with cities in other countries such as Australia, living costs in Chinese cities are stable thanks to a comparatively steady currency rate.

China is the world's largest receiver of overseas employees designated by international firms, foreign governments and non-government organizations, according to Mercer, a US-based international human resources consultancy company.

The survey compared the costs of more than 200 items, including food, housing, transportation, clothing and entertainment, using prices in New York City as a base to establish the survey's ranking system.

Since consumption by local residents wasn't counted, currency rate fluctuations against the US dollar and price movements were the main factors that determined a city's rank.

Living costs in New York City were equal to 86 percent of those in Beijing, a decrease from 89 percent last year and 90 percent the year before last, according to Alan Zhang, Mercer's chief of information products in the Chinese mainland, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao.

The annual report aims at helping international companies, governments and NGOs to set up better payroll systems for their overseas employees.

A total of 11 Chinese cities participated in the survey, including Hong Kong (9th), Guangzhou (38th), Shenzhen (43rd) and Taipei (52nd).

The survey showed that the most expensive city in Asia is Tokyo (2nd), followed by Osaka (6th) and Singapore (8th).

Mercer began conducting the survey in 1990.