Society: The most expensive hangovers

Achieving the traditional New Year's Day hangover can be a bargain, or it can break the bank depending on where you choose to see the new year in.

Partygoers should avoid spending the morning after in the UK where the cure for that pounding headache, nausea and dry mouth is 15 per cent above average, according to figures from the latest Cost of Living survey.

The survey by ECA International, the largest global network of expatriate employers, looked at the cost of dinner at a restaurant, a bottle of red wine, 20 cigarettes, two drinks in a bar, a taxi home and half a bottle of wine. They also looked at the hangover cure - a packet of aspirin, a litre of orange juice, a CD of soothing sounds and a litre of mineral water.

South Africa was the clear winner for a cheap night out on New Year's Eve - with dinner costing just half of what consumers expect to pay in the UK, and cigarettes at 20 per cent of the price in Sweden. In Hong Kong, the most expensive location overall, the total price of a night out - pounds 65 - was two and a half times what it was in South Africa.

However, Hong Kong wins out in the hangover cure stakes where it becomes the cheapest - largely due to the extremely cheap price of CDs in the province.