World's Most Livable Cities

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The World's Most Livable Cities is an informal name given to any list of cities as they rank on a reputable annual survey of living conditions. The two best-known are the Mercer Quality of Living Survey and The Economist's World's Most Livable Cities.

Mercer's Quality of Living Survey 2008
City Country Rating
1 Zurich Switzerland 108
2 Vienna Austria 107.9
- Geneva Switzerland 107.9
4 Vancouver Canada 107.6
5 Auckland New Zealand 107.3
6 Dusseldorf Germany 107.2
7 Munich Germany 107
- Frankfurt Germany 107
9 Bern Switzerland 106.5
10 Sydney Australia 106.3
11 Copenhagen Denmark 106.2
12 Wellington New Zealand 105.8
13 Amsterdam The Netherlands 105.7
14 Brussels Belgium 105.4
15 Toronto Canada 105.3
16 Berlin Germany 105
17 Melbourne Australia 104.8
- Luxembourg Luxembourg 104.8
19 Ottawa Canada 104.8
20 Stockholm Sweden 104.5
21 Perth Australia 104.3
22 Montreal Canada 104.2
23 Nurnberg Germany 104.1
24 Oslo Norway 103.7
25 Dublin Ireland 103.5
- Calgary Canada 103.5
27 Hamburg Germany 103.4
28 Honolulu US 103.1
29 San Francisco US 103
- Helsinki Finland 103
- Adelaide Australia 103
32 Singapore Singapore 102.9
- Paris France 102.9
34 Brisbane Australia 102.4
35 Tokyo Japan 102.2
36 Lyon France 101.9
37 Boston US 101.8
38 Yokohama Japan 101.6
- London UK 101.6
40 Kobe Japan 100.9
41 Milan Italy 100.8
42 Barcelona Spain 100.6
43 Madrid Spain 100.5
44 Washington US 100.3
- Osaka Japan 100.3
- Lisbon Portugal 100.3
- Chicago US 100.3
48 Portland US 100.2
49 New York US 100
50 Seattle US 99.8
The Economist's World's Most Livable Cities 2008
City Country Rating
1 Vancouver Canada 98.8
2 Melbourne Australia 98.2
3 Vienna Austria 97.9
4 Perth Australia 97.3
5 Toronto Canada 97.0
6 Helsinki Finland 96.9
7 Adelaide Australia 96.6
- Calgary Canada 96.6
9 Geneva Switzerland 96.1
- Sydney Australia 96.1
- Zurich Switzerland 96.1

Contents

[edit] Quality of Life Survey

Mercer's Quality of Life Survey is released annually, comparing 215 cities based on 39 criteria. New York is given a score of 100 and other cities are rated in comparison.

Important criteria are safety, education, hygiene, recreation, political-economic stability and public transportation. The importance of the list lies primarily in that internationally operating companies use it to determine where they will open offices or plants and how much they pay the employees.

In the 2008 list, the top is dominated by cities from Europe, with several entries from Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Switzerland and Germany both have 3 cities in the top 10, which is especially striking for Switzerland, given the size of the country. The first entries from other countries are the USA at 28, Singapore at 32 and Japan at 35. Baghdad was at the bottom of the list. Of the 25 countries at the bottom, 18 are from Africa. Compared to lists from previous years, countries from South Asia (mainly India), East Asia (mainly China), the Middle East and Eastern Europe are clearly on the rise.

Mercer also has a 'Personal Safety' list, which is also dominated by EU and Swiss cities, with the top 5 being Luxembourg, Bern, Geneva, Helsinki and Zurich.

In the 2007 Mercer Quality of Life Survey the top five places included Zurich on 108.1 points, Geneva (108.0), Vancouver and Vienna on 107.7 points, Auckland on 107.3 and Dusseldorf on 107.2. Cities particularly from Switzerland, Germany, Australia, New Zealand and Canada rated well. All of Australia's major capitals were rated highly with Sydney at 9, Melbourne at 17, Perth at 21, Adelaide at 30 and Brisbane at 31. New Zealand's capital Wellington ranked at 12 and it's largest city Auckland ranked at 5. Canada did equally well with Vancouver at 3, Toronto at 15, Ottawa at 18, Montreal at 22 and Calgary at 24. The top-rated USA cities were Honolulu at 27 and San Francisco at 29.

[edit] World's Most Livable Cities

The Economist Intelligence Unit's livability shows cities in Canada, Australia, Austria, Finland and Switzerland as the most ideal destinations thanks to a widespread availability of goods and services, low personal risk and an effective infrastructure. The report placed Vancouver, Canada as the most livable city in the world, with Melbourne, Australia taking second place followed by Vienna. The survey said "In the current global political climate, it is no surprise that the most desirable destinations are those with a lower perceived threat of terrorism." [1]

Australia's other major cities (Perth at 4, Adelaide at 7 and Sydney at 9) claimed positions in the top ten. Other Canadian cities also ranked highly in the survey. In addition to Vancouver, the Canadian cities Toronto and Calgary were all placed within the top 10, with Ottawa and Edmonton ranked within the top 25. Vienna, Austria, Finnish capital Helsinki and Geneva and Zurich in Switzerland also ranked within the top ten.

Harare, Zimbabwe was rated the worst city in the world to call home. African, South Asian, and Middle Eastern cities were generally the worst performing in the EIU's rankings.


[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ CNN.com - Vancouver is 'best city to live' - Oct 4, 2005

[edit] External links

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