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Vienna tops quality of living survey 2009

Started by Syt, April 28, 2009, 12:18:19 PM

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Syt

http://www.mercer.com/qualityofliving
Rank 2009 Rank 2008 City Country Index 2009 Index 2008
1 2 VIENNA AUSTRIA 108.6 107.9
2 1 ZURICH SWITZERLAND 108 108
3 2 GENEVA SWITZERLAND 107.9 107.9
4 4 VANCOUVER CANADA 107.4 107.6
4 5 AUCKLAND NEW ZEALAND 107.4 107.3
6 6 DUSSELDORF GERMANY 107.2 107.2
7 7 MUNICH GERMANY 107 107
8 7 FRANKFURT GERMANY 106.8 107
9 9 BERN SWITZERLAND 106.5 106.5
10 10 SYDNEY AUSTRALIA 106.3 106.3
11 11 COPENHAGEN DENMARK 106.2 106.2
12 12 WELLINGTON NEW ZEALAND 105.9 105.8
13 13 AMSTERDAM NETHERLANDS 105.7 105.7
14 14 BRUSSELS BELGIUM 105.4 105.4
15 15 TORONTO CANADA 105.3 105.3
16 19 OTTAWA CANADA 105 104.7
16 16 BERLIN GERMANY 105 105
18 17 MELBOURNE AUSTRALIA 104.8 104.8
19 17 LUXEMBOURG LUXEMBOURG 104.6 104.8
20 20 STOCKHOLM SWEDEN 104.5 104.5
21 21 PERTH AUSTRALIA 104.3 104.3
22 22 MONTREAL CANADA 104.2 104.2
23 23 NURNBERG GERMANY 104.1 104.1
24 24 OSLO NORWAY 103.7 103.7
25 25 DUBLIN IRELAND 103.6 103.5
26 32 SINGAPORE SINGAPORE 103.5 102.9
26 25 CALGARY CANADA 103.5 103.5
28 27 HAMBURG GERMANY 103.4 103.4
29 28 HONOLULU, HI UNITED STATES 103.1 103.1
30 29 SAN FRANCISCO, CA UNITED STATES 103 103
30 29 HELSINKI FINLAND 103 103
30 29 ADELAIDE AUSTRALIA 103 103
33 32 PARIS FRANCE 102.9 102.9
34 34 BRISBANE AUSTRALIA 102.4 102.4
35 35 TOKYO JAPAN 102.2 102.2
35 37 BOSTON, MA UNITED STATES 102.2 101.8
37 36 LYON FRANCE 101.9 101.9
38 38 YOKOHAMA JAPAN 101.6 101.6
38 38 LONDON UNITED KINGDOM 101.6 101.6
40 40 KOBE JAPAN 100.9 100.9
41 41 MILAN ITALY 100.8 100.8
42 48 PORTLAND, OR UNITED STATES 100.6 100.2
42 42 BARCELONA SPAIN 100.6 100.6
44 44 WASHINGTON, DC UNITED STATES 100.3 100.3
44 44 OSAKA JAPAN 100.3 100.3
44 44 LISBON PORTUGAL 100.3 100.3
44 44 CHICAGO, IL UNITED STATES 100.3 100.3
48 43 MADRID SPAIN 100.2 100.5
49 49 NEW YORK CITY, NY UNITED STATES 100 100
50 50 SEATTLE, WA UNITED STATES 99.8 99.8
I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein's brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops.
—Stephen Jay Gould

Proud owner of 42 Zoupa Points.

Syt

QuoteVienna has passed Zurich to take the top spot as the world's city with the best quality of living, according to the Mercer 2009 Quality of Living Survey. Geneva retains its position in third place, while Vancouver and Auckland are now joint fourth in the rankings.

Overall, European cities continue to dominate the top locations in this year's survey. In the UK, London ranks at 38, while Birmingham and Glasgow are jointly at 56. In the US, the highest ranking entry is Honolulu at position 29. Singapore (26) is the top-scoring Asian city followed by Tokyo at 35. Baghdad, ranking 215, remains at the bottom of the table.

The rankings are based on a point-scoring index, which sees Vienna score 108.6, and Baghdad 14.4. Cities are ranked against New York as the base city with an index score of 100. Mercer's Quality of Living ranking covers 215 cities and is conducted to help governments and major companies place employees on international assignments. See top 50 quality of living rankings below.

Slagin Parakatil, senior researcher at Mercer, commented: "As a result of the current financial crisis, multinationals are looking to review their international assignment policies with a view to cutting costs."

"Many companies plan to reduce the number of medium to long-term international assignments and localise their expatriate compensation packages where possible though the hardship allowance, based on quality of living criteria, will remain an essential component of the package," he added.

This year's ranking also identifies the cities with the best infrastructure based on electricity supply, water availability, telephone and mail services, public transport provision, traffic congestion and the range of international flights from local airports.

Singapore is at the top of this index (score 109.1) followed by Munich in second place and Copenhagen in third. Japanese cities Tsukuba (4) and Yokohama (5) fill the next two slots, whilst Dusseldorf and Vancouver share sixth place. Baghdad ranks at the bottom of the table with a score of only 19.6.

Mr Parakatil commented: "Infrastructure has a significant effect on the quality of living experienced by expatriates. Whilst often taken for granted when functioning to a high standard, a city's infrastructure can generate severe hardship when it is lacking. Companies need to provide adequate allowances to compensate their international workers for these and other hardships."
I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein's brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops.
—Stephen Jay Gould

Proud owner of 42 Zoupa Points.

PDH

Worthless.  Laramie, Wyoming not even ranked in the top ten?     :mad:
I have come to believe that the whole world is an enigma, a harmless enigma that is made terrible by our own mad attempt to interpret it as though it had an underlying truth.
-Umberto Eco

-------
"I'm pretty sure my level of depression has nothing to do with how much of a fucking asshole you are."

-CdM

Syt

http://languish.org/forums/index.php?action=post;topic=649.0;num_replies=2
QuotePeople perceive many different things when they speak of  quality of living. While everyone agrees that a high crime rate is undesirable and the air we breathe, the house, the environment we live in should be clean, there is great diversity in ideas about quality of living, thus reflecting the different use of the term and different understanding depending on age, gender social position, etc. of the person.


Given that basic individual needs are quite general, it is fairly unlikely that the quality of living components listed by two different individuals will differ to any great extent; what is more likely is that certain criteria of quality of living will have greater weighting than others at a given moment or in certain situations.


Although Quality of Life is a broadly used term, it should not be confused with what Mercer refers to as Quality of Living. Alongside the different personal and subjective assessments each of us may make, there are some aspects everyone would probably agree on as being important for having good quality of living standards such as personal safety and security, health issues, transport infrastructure, availability of consumer goods and adequate housing and schooling and recreation opportunities.


In fact, Quality of Life may involve a subjective assessment or opinion, whereas Mercer's criteria are objective, neutral and unbiased. Quality of Life is about a person's emotional state and personal life. One may live in the highest ranked city in terms of quality of living and still have a very bad quality of life because of unfortunate personal circumstances (illness, unemployment or loneliness, etc).


Indeed, definition of Quality of Life may differ according to levels of income, social status, health and/or weather conditions. For the purposes of this report, quality of living assesses the degree to which expatriates enjoy the potential standard of living in the host location. Quality of living also reflects the interaction of political, socio-economic and environmental factors in the host location.



Mercer has designed an objective way of measuring quality of living for expatriates based on factors that people consider representative of quality of living. Once a year, Mercer conducts a quality of living study in more than 380 cities worldwide based on detailed assessments and evaluations of 10 key categories and 39 criteria or factors, each having coherent weightings reflecting their relative importance. The categories and factors are shown in the table below:

Mercer's quality of living factors



Political & Social Environment



    * Relationship with other Countries
    * Internal Stability
    * Crime
    * Law Enforcement
    * Ease of Entry and Exit


Economic Environment



    * Currency Exchange Regulations
    * Banking Services


Socio-Cultural Environment



    * Limitation on Personal Freedom
    * Media & Censorship

   Medical & Health Considerations



    * Hospital Services
    * Medical Services
    * Infectious Diseases
    * Water Potability
    * Sewage
    * Air Pollution
    * Troublesome & Destructive
      Animals & Insects


Schools & Education



    * Schools



Natural Environment



    * Climate
    * Record of Natural
      Disasters

   

Public Services & Transport



    * Electricity
    * Water Availability
    * Telephone
    * Mail
    * Public Transport
    * Traffic Congestion
    * Airport


Recreation



    * Variety of Restaurants
    * Theatrical & Musical
      Performances
    * Cinemas
    * Sport & Leisure Activities

   

Consumer Goods



    * Meat & Fish
    * Fresh Fruits & Vegetables
    * Daily Consumption Items
    * Alcoholic Beverages
    * Automobiles


Housing



    * Housing
    * Household Appliances
      & Furniture
    * Household Maintenance
      & Repair
I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein's brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops.
—Stephen Jay Gould

Proud owner of 42 Zoupa Points.

The Brain

Women want me. Men want to be with me.


Neil

#6
Just the fact that they have Vancouver at #4 shows how the list is suspect.
I do not hate you, nor do I love you, but you are made out of atoms which I can use for something else.

The Brain

Women want me. Men want to be with me.

DisturbedPervert

Their cost of living survey was only applicable to a very small percentage of people, very wealthy western expat workers.

Josquius

#9
It is a nice city. Too many tourists though.
Shocking that London is there (top 50) but not other, far more livable, UK cities. But Birmingham? WTF? Thats very unlivable. Edinburgh trumps it and is well known. Newcastle does too.
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Berkut

Meh, I bet this is largely based on subjective measures that reward particular choices, and/or very vague criteria the measurement of which is largely suspect.

Although, if you look at the spread from NYC to the top city, it is pretty damn small. If anything this survey says "Hey, live in the West! It doesn't suck!"
"If you think this has a happy ending, then you haven't been paying attention."

select * from users where clue > 0
0 rows returned

Syt

Quote from: Berkut on April 28, 2009, 02:31:41 PM
Meh, I bet this is largely based on subjective measures that reward particular choices, and/or very vague criteria the measurement of which is largely suspect.

Although, if you look at the spread from NYC to the top city, it is pretty damn small. If anything this survey says "Hey, live in the West! It doesn't suck!"

Well, the survey is measuring "quality of living" for well earning expats. I suspect it's pretty good in most cities of the civilized world.
I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein's brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops.
—Stephen Jay Gould

Proud owner of 42 Zoupa Points.

saskganesh

Quote from: DisturbedPervert on April 28, 2009, 12:49:28 PM
Their cost of living survey was only applicable to a very small percentage of people, very wealthy western expat workers.

bingo. you have to consider the audience for this research. for what it is, I assume it's fairly useful information.

IT'S NOT  a list of quality of living for say 1) recent uni graduates, 2) families of 4s, 3) the recently laid off and so on.
humans were created in their own image

Savonarola

In Italy, for thirty years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland, they had brotherly love, they had five hundred years of democracy and peace—and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock

Savonarola

Quote from: DGuller on April 28, 2009, 12:38:58 PM
Quote from: The Brain on April 28, 2009, 12:34:02 PM
Detroit?
Is there still life in Detroit?

Apparently there are mutant behemoth who long to devour Caliga; though that may be just an internet rumor. :unsure:
In Italy, for thirty years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland, they had brotherly love, they had five hundred years of democracy and peace—and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock