Saturday, June 14, 2008

The world's top cities to live in

Swiss and German cities dominate
ranking of best cities in the world

A report by Mercer Consulting

10 June 2008: Zurich, Vienna and Geneva are the best cities in the world as far as quality of live is concerned, says Mercer Consulting in a survey published in June 2008. Vancouver (Canada) and Auckland (New Zealand) are placed fourth and fifth respectively, followed by three German cities: Düsseldorf, Munich and Frankfurt. Tokyo, London and Madrid are all outside the top 25. Overall, Baghdad is, not surprisingly, the lowest ranking city in the survey.

Join the debate on the best cities in the world

In the UK, London ranks 38, while Birmingham and Glasgow are jointly 56. The highest entry for the United States is Honolulu, appearing at number 28. The cities with the lowest quality of living ranking are Ndjamena (211), Khartoum (212), Brazzaville (213) and Bangui (214). Baghdad, ranking 215, retains its position at the bottom of the table.

The rankings are based on a point-scoring index, which sees Zurich scoring 108, while Baghdad scores 13.5. Cities are compared to New York as the base city, with an index score of 100. The quality of living survey covers 215 cities and is conducted by Mercer Consulting to help governments and major companies place employees on international assignments.

The world's top cities offering the best quality of life
(New York City is the base city with a score of 100 points)

2008 Rank
2007 Rank
City
Country
Points
1
1
Zurich Switzerland
108.0
=2
3
Vienna Austria
107.9
=2
2
Geneva Switzerland
107.9
4
4
Vancouver Canada
107.6
5
5
Auckland New Zealand
107.3
6
5
Düsseldorf Germany
107.2
=7
8
Munich Germany
107.0
=7
7
Frankfurt Germany
107.0
9
9
Bern Switzerland
106.5
19
9
Sydney Australia
106.3
11
11
Copenhagen Denmark
106.2
12
12
Wellington New Zealand
105.8
13
13
Amsterdam Netherlands
105.7
14
14
Brussels Belgium
105.4
15
15
Toronto Canada
105.3
16
16
Berlin Germany
105.0
=17
17
Melbourne Australia
104.8
=17
18
Luxembourg Luxembourg
104.8
19
18
Ottawa Canada
104.7
20
20
Stockholm Sweden
104.5
21
21
Perth Australia
104.3
22
22
Montreal Canada
104.2
23
23
Nürnberg Germany
104.1
24
26
Oslo Norway
103.7
=25
27
Dublin Ireland
103.5
=25
24
Calgary Canada
103.5
27
24
Hamburg Germany
103.4
28
27
Honolulu USA
103.1
=29
29
San Francisco USA
103.0
=29
30
Helsinki Finland
103.0
=29
30
Adelaide Australia
103.0
=32
34
Singapore Singapore
102.9
=32
33
Paris France
102.9
34
32
Brisbane Australia
102.4
35
35
Tokyo Japan
102.2
36
36
Lyon France
101.9
37
36
Boston USA
101.8
=38
38
Yokohama Japan
101.6
=38
39
London UK
101.6
40
40
Kobe Japan
100.9
41
49
Milan Italy
100.8
42
41
Barcelona Spain
100.6
43
42
Madrid Spain
100.5
=44
44
Washington DC USA
100.3
=44
42
Osaka Japan
100.3
=44
47
Lisbon Portugal
100.3
=44
44
Chicago USA
100.3
48
46
Portland USA
100.2
49
48
New York City USA
100.0
50
49
Seattle USA
99.8

North America
Canadian cities dominate the rankings in the Americas. Vancouver (4) has the best quality of living followed by Toronto (15), Ottawa (19) and Montreal (22). In the US, after Honolulu (28) comes San Francisco (29), Boston (37) and Chicago (44). Washington, DC, ranks 44, above New York (49).

Latin America
In Central and South America, San Juan in Puerto Rico retains the highest ranking at 72, followed by Montevideo at 76. Port au Prince in Haiti ranks lowest in the region at 202. In terms of the index, Vancouver scores 107.6 compared to Port au Prince’s 39.8.

Europe
Switzerland and Germany dominate the European cities with the best quality of living, each having three cities represented in the top 10. Bern, in Switzerland, ranks 9 following behind Zurich and Geneva. Dusseldorf (6), Munich and Frankfurt (both at 7) represent Germany. Outside the top 10 are Copenhagen (11), Amsterdam (13), Brussels (14), Berlin (16) and Luxembourg (17). Dublin, ranking 25, is followed by Paris (32), Barcelona (42) and Madrid (43). Lisbon is number 44 and is followed by Rome, 55, up from 61 in 2007. Prague (71) is the highest-ranking eastern European city followed by Budapest (74), Vilnius (78), Ljubljana (82) and Warsaw (85). The lowest ranking European city is Minsk (183) in Belarus. Minsk scores 49.4 on the index compared with Zurich’s 108. Milan (41), Lisbon (44), Vilnius (78) and Riga (89) have also become more attractive destinations, rising markedly in the rankings since 2007.

Middle East and Africa
Cape Town (80) in South Africa and Port Louis in Mauritius are the region’s cities with the best quality of living followed by Dubai (83) and Abu Dhabi (87). In contrast, Johannesburg slips from 90 in 2007 to 94 in 2008 and Harare in Zimbabwe slips from 168 in 2007 to 174. Out of the 25 lowest ranking cities, 19 are from Africa including Lagos (198), Port Harcourt (207) and Bangui (214). Two are from the Middle East including Sanaa (207) and Baghdad (215) – the city with the world’s lowest quality of living and lowest levels of personal safety. Cape Town scores 87.9 compared to Baghdad’s 13.5.

Asia Pacific
Auckland (5) is the city in Asia Pacific with the best quality of living, followed by Sydney (10) and Wellington (12). Elsewhere in Asia, Singapore (32) ranks two places higher than in 2007, slightly higher than Japanese cities such as Tokyo (35). Hong Kong and Beijing retain their 2007 rankings, respectively 70 and 116 in 2008. Bangalore (140) is India’s most highly ranked city followed closely by Mumbai (142). Both have seen a marked improvement in their rankings since 2007. Elsewhere in Asia, Kuala Lumpur ranks 75, followed by Taipei (84), Seoul (86), Bangkok (109) and Jakarta (146). According to the index, Auckland, the city with the best quality of living in Asia Pacific, scores 107.3 while Dhaka, the city with the region’s worst quality of living, scores 38.9.

Safety
The survey also identifies those cities with the highest personal safety ranking based on internal stability, crime, effectiveness of law enforcement and relationships with other countries. Luxembourg is top, followed by Bern, Geneva, Helsinki and Zurich, all equally placed at number 2. Chicago, Houston and San Francisco are amongst the safest cities in the US, all ranking at 53. Baghdad (215) is the world’s least safe city along with Kinshasa (214), Karachi (213), Nairobi (212) and Bangui (211). Luxembourg scores 131.4 on the index while Baghdad scores 3.8.

In terms of personal safety, Canadian cities perform best with Calgary, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto and Vancouver all ranked jointly at 22. In the US, Chicago, Honolulu, Houston, Lexington, San Francisco and Winston-Salem all share rank 53. Elsewhere in the region, Santo Domingo has the highest ranking at 92 followed by Panama City (96) and Monterrey (99). Bogota (207) in Colombia has the lowest levels of personal safety. The Canadian cities score 115.8 compared to Bogota’s 30.4.

Slagin Parakatil, senior researcher at Mercer, said that personal safety within Canadian cities ranked among the highest in the region. This was due to a relatively low crime rate and a stable political environment. In contrast, many of the Latin American cities such as Caracas, Bogotá or Port au Prince continued to be undermined by crime and political and economic turmoil. Traffic congestion and pollution have also had an impact.

The rankings of Bern, Geneva and Zurich, all at 2, confirm Switzerland’s position as one of the safest countries in Europe. According to the index, Luxembourg, the European city with the highest level of personal safety, scores 131.4. This is in stark contrast with Moscow, the European city scoring the lowest at 37.7 (196). In the UK, Glasgow (43) and Birmingham (53) rank safer than London (69).

For personal safety, apart from Baghdad, Kinshasa is the worst location, ranked 214, and Nairobi (212). Lagos and Port Harcourt rank equally at 209. Jerusalem and Beirut both rank 199 and Harare, 184. Abu Dhabi (33) is the region’s best city for personal safety, followed by Dubai (47), Port Louis (60). Lusaka and Manama rank equally at (118). According to the personal safety index, Abu Dhabi scores 112 against Baghdad’s 3.8.

For personal safety, Pakistan is one of the lowest-scoring destinations with Karachi, Islamabad and Lahore ranked 213, 203 and 192 respectively. Colombo in Sri Lanka appears at 204 while Dhaka (201), Jakarta (189) and Manila (178) are amongst the region’s cities scoring lowest on personal safety. Singapore is the region’s best location for personal safety, scoring 120.2 compared to Karachi’s 25.3.