Hanoi is the city where residents have the most expensive cost of living while the province of Hau Giang is the cheapest, the General Statistics Office announced on March 29.

General Statistics Office said that in 2016 Hanoi has the highest cost of living compared to whole country (Hanoi ranked the second in 2015), followed by Lao Cai.

The third most expensive city is Ho Chi Minh city and the fourth is Lai Chau.

Thus, Lai Chau from the most expensive city in the country in 2015 has dropped to the fourth position.

Compared with 2015, there is not much change in the rankings of expensive cities and provinces. Provinces of Lao Cai, Dien Bien, Lang Son and Ha Giang closely follow Hanoi in terms of living expenses.

"The reason why mountainous provinces have higher commodity prices than other provinces is due to geographical location, transportation difficulties," the General Statistics Office said./.

Translated by Tran Ngoc