Forbes.com has published a list of the 20 "Most Expensive Cities of the World" just last month, ten of which is included in the recently published 2014 "Cost of Living Survey" by Mercer. Surprisingly, two cities on the list are in severely impoverished African nations.

This year, the Angolan City of Luanda has been able to keep the "Most Expensive City" title for the 2nd time in a row. Luanda is the capital of the Southern African nation of Angola. Despite the high crime rate and severe traffic congestion that infests the district, the poverty-stricken African city still proved itself to be the costliest in the world.

According to CNBC, Angola's struggling economy remains a major factor in the city's high cost of living. The African country is still struggling to get back on its feet, 10 years after a civil war that lasted three decades. Th country heavily depends on foreign imports for it's most basic necessities.

Also another surprise on the "World's Most Expensive Cities" list is the Chadian capital, N'Djamena (pronounced as InJAMina). The Central African city rose up to be the second costliest city from its no. 4 rank in last year's survey.

Chad is surrounded by land on all sides, and is just as impoverished as the Angolan City of Luanda.

Mercer Global Leader Ed Hannibal clarified that the top 2 most expensive cities in the world are relatively inexpensive to its locals, and that the high costs of living in the African cities only applies to expats in relation to their lifestyle standards.

Also included on the Mercer list is Hong Kong at no. 3, Singapore at no. 4, and the Swiss cities of Zurich and Geneva at numbers 5 and 6, respectively. Following in at no. 7 is the Japanese capital, Tokyo; at no. 8 is another Swiss city, Bern, while no. 9 is the Russian capital, Moscow, and finally, the Chinese city of Shanghai sits at no.10.