Worldwide Quality of Living Survey

A worldwide quality of living survey by consultants William M. Mercer has identified four cities in the world's top position as having the highest quality of living - Vancouver, Zurich, Vienna and Bern. Other cities ranked in the world's top 10 are Sydney, Geneva, Auckland, Copenhagen, Helsinki and Amsterdam.

The survey covered 218 cities and evaluated 39 quality of living factors for each city including political, economic and environmental factors, personal safety and health, education, transport and other public services.  The survey was conducted to assist multinational companies in assessing comparative international quality of living standards for their expatriate workers.

Cities were ranked with New York as the base city with a score of 100.  Compared with the top four cities, which each score 106, the least desirable cities are Brazzaville and Pointe Noire in Congo which score 23 and 30.5 respectively, and Khartoum and Baghdad which each score 33.

"At the very top end of the scale, there is little to choose between the highest-scoring cities.  Crime levels, transport and education services are what can make the difference.  It is in the developing countries where the real variables can be seen, affecting personal safety, hygiene and the basic comforts of living," said Jasbir Singh, European Partner at William M. Mercer.

Europe

The European regional rankings emphasise the difference in living conditions between Eastern and Western Europe, although the gap is narrowing.

Western Europe has three of the world's four highest-ranking cities (Zurich, Vienna and Bern), and 12 of the top 20.  Switzerland has three of the highest-scoring cities - Zurich (106), Bern (106) and Geneva (105.5) while Germany also has three cities in the top 20 - Frankfurt (104), Munich (104) and Dusseldorf ( 103.5). Amongst the high-scoring cities are Copenhagen (105.5), Helsinki (104.5), Amsterdam (104.5), Oslo (103.5) and Brussels (103.5).  Paris (102.5) is ranked in joint 24th position while London (101.5) is in joint 34th position.

In Eastern Europe, Budapest (91) Prague (88.5) and Warsaw (83) have risen significantly in the rankings.  By contrast, Belgrade (39), Tashkent (44.5), Sarajevo (44.5) and Almaty (46.5) appear near the bottom of the table due to the instability of the region.  Moscow (57.5), St Petersburg (58) and Kiev (58.5) also score badly on the issues of political stability, personal safety and health.

North America

In North America, Canada has three of the world's top 20 cities - Vancouver (106 -joint first position) and Toronto (103.5 - joint 15th position) - due to a combination of social stability, excellent infrastructure and good leisure facilities.

Honolulu (104) scores best of the US cities surveyed, followed by San Francisco (103.5) - both in the top 20 league.  The US has 12 of the world's top 50 cities.  American cities all score highly on political stability, availability of consumer goods and quality of medical services but less so on crime and personal security issues which reduce their overall ranking (101 - average for all).

Mexican cities are rated lowest in the region.

Asia is a region of extremes with cities at both ends of the table.  Australia and New Zealand have four of the world's 20 highest-ranking cities - Sydney and Auckland (105.5), Melbourne (104) and Perth (103.5).  Tokyo (102.5), Kobe (101.5) and Yokohama (101) in Japan also rate highly in this part of the world, together with Singapore (100.5). Hong Kong is currently rated at 93.

At the other extreme, Vietnam and China's cities continue to rate poorly in world terms although conditions have improved. Indonesia's ratings have dropped back due to the recent social and political instability in the region.

Middle East

Political tensions continue to impact on the rankings in the Middle East. Tel Aviv scores highest in the region (86) while Baghdad (33) is rated as the worst city due to its political and socio-economic conditions and continuing tension between Iraq and the west.

Africa

Most African cities tend to have low quality of living rankings with Brazzaville (23), Pointe Noire (30.5) and Khartoum (33) rated as the worst in the region and near the bottom of the worldwide table.  The continuing civil war in Congo, which has resulted in thousands of casualties and the forced evacuation of expatriates has made Brazzaville the lowest rated city in the whole survey.  Overall, the region continues to score poorly and low ratings for personal security, social stability and public service standards are a feature of most of the cities surveyed.  Regionally, the cities with the highest quality of living are Cape Town (84.5) and Johannesburg (83).

• Latin America and Caribbean
• Latin America's southern-most capitals tend to have a higher quality of living, with Montevideo (92.5) and Buenos Aires (91.5) the top two in the region.  At the other end of the regional table are San Pedro Sulla in Honduras (46), Havana (46) and Port au Prince (47).

Press enquiries: please contact Jan Schapira/Donna Ellis (Press office) on 0181 666 8525/8204 or Jasbir Singh (Geneva) on 41 22 869 3000.

Notes to editors:  The worldwide rankings list is produced from the most recent worldwide quality of living survey, conducted by human resources consultants William M. Mercer. Individual quality of  reports are produced for each city surveyed, but please note that there is no overall summary report available. The cost of comparative quality of living indexes between a base city and a host city is 200 Euros (multiple city comparisons are available on a sliding cost scale).

The aim of Mercer’s survey is to provide an objective, consistent and comprehensive evaluation of the differences in quality of living in any two cities.  The information is used by governments and major companies worldwide to determine appropriate allowances that reflect differences in the quality of living for personnel transferred abroad.  The study is based on detailed assessments and evaluations of 39 key quality of living determinants, grouped in the following categories :

• Political and social environment (political stability, crime, law enforcement etc)
• Economic environment (currency exchange regulations, banking services etc)
• Socio-cultural environment (censorship, limitations on personal freedom etc)
• Medical and health considerations (medical supplies and services, infectious diseases, sewage, waste disposal, air pollution etc)
• Schools and education (standard of schools etc)
• Public services and transportation (electricity, water, public transport, traffic congestion etc)
• Recreation (restaurants, theatres, cinemas, sports and leisure etc)
• Consumer goods (availability of food/daily consumption items, cars etc)
• Housing (housing, household appliances, furniture, maintenance services etc)
• Natural environment (climate, record of natural disasters)

Mercer’s quality of living reports aim to overcome the weaknesses of traditional "hardship comparisons" which are often viewed from a national perspective and rarely take proper account of the positive features of the cities being compared. Assessment factors reflect the criteria which international executives feel are the standards by which cities should be compared.  In order to be considered as a valid criterion, each factor must be neutral and objective (not biased from a national perspective), quantifiable and comparable, and relevant to all expatriates regardless of seniority or job type.

Mercer's approach therefore compares factors which are basic concerns for all, and avoids national and cultural differences, avoiding the weaknesses of those comparisons biased towards an American, European or Asian standard.

Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the data.  However, these rankings are based on conditions prevalent towards the end of 1999, and may change over time.

William M. Mercer is one of the world's largest human resources consultancies, with some 12,500 employees in more than 135 cities in  34 countries.

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