Mercer’s 2011 Worldwide Quality of Living Survey was released today and the results reveal that European cities continue to dominate the rest of the world in terms of proving the highest standard of living for expatriates, with 8 out of the top 10 cities being located in Europe.
According to this year’s results, Vienna in Austria has the highest quality of life on offer in the world, followed by Zurich, Auckland, Munich, Dusseldorf, Vancouver, Frankfurt, Geneva, Copenhagen and Bern.
Discussing Europe’s results, Slagin Parakatil, Senior Researcher at Mercer, commented: “European cities in general continue to have high standards of living, because they enjoy advanced and modern city infrastructures combined with high-class medical, recreational and leisure facilities. But economic turmoil, high levels of unemployment and lack of confidence in political institutions make their future positions hard to predict. Countries such Austria, Germany and Switzerland still fare particularly well in both the quality of living and personal safety rankings, yet they are not immune from decreases in living standards if this uncertainty persists.”
The survey, which ranked 22 cities throughout the world according to the quality of living available, utilized a unique ranking system in which 39 criteria were used to assess life in each city against a set of 10 separate categories. The survey takes into consideration the political and socio-economic environment, medical and health considerations, education, transport and housing available in each country, using New York as the base city.
The cities that offered the lowest quality of life were Khartoum, Sudan (217), Port-au-Prince, Haiti (218), N’Djamena, Chad (219), and Bangui, Central African Republic (220). Baghdad in Iraq (221) ranked last in Mercer’s table.
In this year’s survey cities in New Zealand and Australia retained some of the top spots in terms of quality of living that they had achieved the previous year, with Auckland (3), Sydney (11), Wellington (13), Melbourne (18) and Perth (12) featuring in the top fifteen places in the world to live for quality of life. Discussing New Zealand’s performance in the survey, Georgina Harley, Leader of Mercer’s Information Product Solutions business, said: “New Zealand remains an attractive destination for skilled workers who want a high quality of life coupled with economic and physical security. In contrast to Europe and the United States, New Zealand has a relatively strong economic outlook, which increases its appeal as a safe haven from economic uncertainty.
“New Zealand’s high living standards provide a potentially compelling case for attracting international talent to our shores. Employers should promote these benefits when undertaking international recruitment and secondment programs as part of their efforts to address skills shortages.”
Top Ten Cities in the World for Quality of Life
1. Vienna, Austria
2. Zurich, Switzerland
3. Auckland, New Zealand
4. Munich, Germany
5. Düsseldorf, Germany
5. Vancouver, Canada
7. Frankfurt, Germany
8. Geneva, Switzerland
9. Bern, Switzerland
9. Copenhagen, Denmark
Bottom Ten Cities in the World for Quality of Life
212. Nouakchott, Mauritania
213. Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire
214. Brazzaville, Congo
214. Tbilisi, Georgia
216. Sana’a, Yemen
217. Khartoum, Sudan
218. Port-au-Prince, Haiti
219. N’Djamena, Chad
220. Bangui, Central African Republic
221. Baghdad Iraq
Read the full article: http://www.mercer.com/surveys/quality-of-living-report
