Yesterday we reported that an international survey conducted by human resource consulting firm Mercer, had revealed that Vienna in Austria offered the highest quality of life in the world. This year Mercer have separated those cities with the highest personal safety ranking in a separate survey, and it is Luxemburg that has emerged as the safest place in the world for expatriates to live.
The separate Personal Safety Ranking that was compiled by Mercer, assessed cities throughout the world according to their internal stability, crime levels, law enforcement effectiveness and the host country’s international relations. Luxembourg was named at the safest place in the world, followed by Bern, Helsinki and Zurich, with all three cities ranking equally in second position.
Discussing the results of the survey, Slagin Parakatil, Senior Researcher at Mercer, commented: “Companies need to keep on top of current developments to ensure that their compensation packages remain competitive and continue to motivate expatriate employees. That means reviewing major events, such as social unrest, economic turmoil or natural disasters and their impact on the success of overseas placements.
“The top-ranking cities for personal safety and security are in politically stable countries with good international relations and relatively sustainable economic growth. Most of the low-scoring cities are in countries with, civil unrest, high crime levels and little law enforcement.”
Baghdad, which was also named as the worst city in the world for quality of life, also takes last place in the personal safety list, just under N’Djamena, Chad (No. 220); Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire (No. 219); and Bangui, Central African Republic (No. 218).
Around the world, Singapore was named as the safest city in Asia, Bengaluru was highlighted as the safest in India, Glasgow and Aberdeen were named as the safest places in the UK and Auckland and Wellington offered the safest places in New Zealand.
While many of the results will not come as a surprise to the majority of expatriates, a couple of unexpected rankings did emerge. Moscow, a very popular expatriate destination, featured in position 199 of the 221 surveyed, and Tblisi, Georgia was positioned at 215. Interestingly, not one US city appeared in the top 50 list of the safest cities in the world in which to live.
The Top Ten Safest Cities in The World in Which to Live
1 Luxembourg, Luxembourg
2 Bern, Switzerland
2 Helsinki, Finland
2 Zurich, Switzerland
5 Vienna, Austria
6 Geneva, Switzerland
6 Stockholm, Sweden
8 Singapore, Singapore
9 Auckland, New Zealand
9 Wellington, New Zealand
