This City has Stopped the ‘Quality of Living’ List for 10th Year in a Row!

Vienna, the capital of Austria, has topped Mercer’s annual ‘Quality of Living’ survey for the 10th year in a row. It was closely followed by Zurich in Switzerland in the second position. Vancouver in Canada, Munich in Germany, and Auckland in New Zealand occupied the joint third position.

Dusseldorf and Frankfurt from Germany were at 6th and 7th positions. Copenhagen in Denmark, and Geneva and Basel in Switzerland occupied the 8th, 9th, and 10th positions respectively.

Singapore at 25th position, Montevideo at 78th position, and Port Louis at the 83rd position were the highest ranked cities in Asia, South America, and Africa respectively.

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Analysis of the Rankings

Eight of the top 10 countries and 13 of the top 20 cities were in Europe, reiterating that European cities have the highest quality of life. Further, three cities from both Switzerland and Germany ranked in the top 10, a commendable feat for both the nations.

In the continent of North America, Canadian cities continued to dominate the rankings with Toronto and Ottawa at 16th and 19th place respectively. The city of San Franciso from the United States of America was at 34, the best ranking for cities from the USA. Boston and Honolulu followed suit at 36 and 37 rank respectively. New York and Seattle came much lower at 44 and 46 spots respectively.

After Singapore, five cities from Japan made it to the list with Tokyo, Kobe, Yokohama, Osaka, and Nagoya within the top 65. In the Middle East, Dubai topped the list with a rank of 74. It was followed by Abu Dhabi at 78.

Further, cities in Australia and New Zealand also rank very high on the list, with Auckland (3), Sydney (11), Wellington (15), and Melbourne (17) all remaining in the top 20.

Here is a list of the top 30 countries.

This year, Mercer also released a list of cities graded on personal safety, which evaluated cities on various parameters such as crime levels, freedom of the press, law enforcement, and restrictions on personal freedom. Luxembourg was named the safest city in the world. This was followed by Helsinki, Zurich, Bern, and Basel in joint second position.

What is Mercer?

Mercer is the largest human resources firm in the world. Its annual survey, where it assesses over 400 cities across the globe and offers a city-to-city comparison, is one of the most comprehensive in the world. The cities are evaluated based on factors such as political and social environment, economic environment, public services and transport, housing, recreation, socio-cultural environment, medical and health considerations, and natural environment. The research is valuable in aiding multinational organizations to compensate their employees fairly when placing them on international projects and assignments.

Take a look at the list and read more the rankings here.