TEHRAN, July 09(MNA)-- In a Worldwide Cost of Living Survey of 2011, Iran’s capital Tehran has been ranked forth cheapest place to live in the world.

The annual survey, conducted by international research firm Economist Intelligence Unit, claims to rank as many as 134 major places across the world on the basis of costs of various items ranging from food to transport to toiletries.

In this year's ranking of costliest cities of the world, Tehran in Iran has been ranked at 130th position; it indicates that Iran’s capital is one of the cheapest cities of the world.

The Worldwide Cost of Living survey enables human resources line managers and expatriate executives to compare the cost of living in 134 cities in 93 countries and calculate fair compensation policies for relocating employees.

The survey gathers detailed information on the cost of more than 160 items--from food, toiletries and clothing to domestic help, transport and utility bills--in every city. More than 50,000 individual prices are collected in each survey round.

Companies can then apply this index to an executive's spendable income to reach a fair cost of living allowance.

According to the report of 2011, Japan's Tokyo has been ranked as the costliest place in the world, followed by Oslo (Norway), Japan's Osaka Kobe, Paris (France) and Zurich (Switzerland) in the top five. Others in the top-ten include Sydney, Melbourne, Frankfurt, Geneva and Singapore.

The 10 cheapest cities in the world have a strong presence in the Indian subcontinent and the Middle East and North Africa.

"Despite the rise of India as a growing emerging-market economy, the low cost of living in cities continues to reflect the fact that the subcontinent remains a comparatively cheap place to live and work," the survey said. Karachi in Pakistan is the cheapest location surveyed, with a cost of living level at less than one-half of that of New York and one-third of that of Tokyo, the report said.

Karachi is joined in the bottom ten by Dhaka (Bangladesh) and the Indian cities of Mumbai and New Delhi. Cities in the Middle East and North Africa make up most of the rest of the cheapest locations.

Algiers (Algeria), Tehran (Iran) Tunis (Tunisia) and Jeddah (Saudi Arabia) all feature in the bottom 10. "The low cost of living in these locations is driven by a mix of weakened currencies, low levels of development and, in some cases, price controls and subsidies on staple goods," the survey said. The two remaining cheapest cities in the world include Manila (Philippines) and Panama City (Panama).