Vienna tops quality of living survey 2009

[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

[Syt]

Vienna 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."

[PDH]

Worthless.  Laramie, Wyoming not even ranked in the top ten?     

[Syt]

http://languish.org/forums/index.php?action=post;topic=649.0;num_replies=2

People 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

[The Brain]

Detroit?

[DGuller]

Detroit?

Is there still life in Detroit?

[Neil]

Just the fact that they have Vancouver at #4 shows how the list is suspect.

[The Brain]

Detroit?

Is there still life in Detroit?

Yes.

[DisturbedPervert]

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

[Josquius]

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.

[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!"

[Syt]

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.

[saskganesh]

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.

[Savonarola]

Detroit?

We have the highest quality of living for elected officials.   

[Savonarola]

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.