Dublin is now the 34th most expensive city in the world.

The capital has dropped 4 places in the rankings since last year which were compiled by Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).

At the height of the boom in 2006 Dublin was rated as the 16th most expensive city in the world.

Dublin Chamber is welcoming the findings - saying it demonstrates the city is offering good value for money for tourists looking for city breaks.

Tokyo regained its crown as the most expensive city which is an honour it has held for 17 of the last 23 years.

Two other European cities made the top 10 - Oslo in 4th and Zurich in 7th.

The report says that the features of the cost-of-living ranking over the last few years has seen a rise in many Asian
cities, offsetting traditionally more costly European locations.

It singles out Australian cities in particular, which it says have been rising very quickly up the rankings "as economic growth has supported inflation and currency swings to make them more costly".

It says 10 years ago there were no Australian cities among the 50 most expensive cities; 2 years ago Australian cities began to be ranked among the 10 most expensive.

And the current survey sees Australian cities reach the highest-ranked position yet, with Sydney rated the 3rd-most expensive city surveyed and Melbourne ranked in 5th place.

In contrast - while Asia is home to over half of the world's 20 most expensive cities, the region is also home to 6 of the 10 cheapest cities.

5 of the bottom 10 (and 6 of the bottom 11) cities hail from the Indian subcontinent - with Mumbai and Karachi the joint cheapest locations in the survey.

Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Algeria and Iran also feature in the bottom 10.