The world's top cities to live in

[Tisswat]

Mercer just released the results of their annual survey, targeted at quality of living in cities around the world.

Here it is..

1. ZURICH Switzerland
   
2. GENEVA Switzerland
   
3. VANCOUVER Canada
   
4. VIENNA Austria
   
5. AUCKLAND New Zealand
   
6. DUSSELDORF Germany
   
7. FRANKFURT Germany
   
8. MUNICH Germany
   
9. BERN Switzerland
   
10. SYDNEY Australia
    
11. COPENHAGEN Denmark
    
12. WELLINGTON New Zealand
    
13. AMSTERDAM The Netherlands
    
14. BRUSSELS Belgium
    
15. TORONTO Canada
    
16. BERLIN Germany
    
17. MELBOURNE Australia
    
18. LUXEMBOURG Luxembourg
    
19. OTTAWA Canada
    
20. STOCKHOLM Sweden
    
21. PERTH Australia
    
22. MONTREAL Canada
    
23. NURNBERG Germany
    
24. CALGARY Canada
    
25. HAMBURG Germany
    
26. OSLO Norway
    
27. DUBLIN Ireland
    
28. HONOLULU, HI United States
    
29. SAN FRANCISCO, CA United States
    
30. ADELAIDE Australia
    
31. HELSINKI Finland
    
32. BRISBANE Australia
    
33. PARIS France
    
34. SINGAPORE Singapore
    
35. TOKYO Japan
    
36. LYON France
    
37. BOSTON, MA United States
    
38. YOKOHAMA Japan
    
39. LONDON United Kingdom
    
40. KOBE Japan
    
41. BARCELONA Spain
    
42. MADRID Spain
    
43. OSAKA Japan
    
44. WASHINGTON, DC United States
    
45. CHICAGO, IL United States
    
46. PORTLAND, OR United States
    
47. LISBON Portugal
    
48. NEW YORK CITY, NY United States
    
49. MILAN Italy
    
50. SEATTLE, WA United States
    
51. LEXINGTON, KY United States
    
52. PITTSBURGH, PA United States
    
53. WINSTON SALEM, NC United States
    
54. NAGOYA Japan
    
55. BIRMINGHAM United Kingdom
    
56. TSUKUBA Japan
    
57. GLASGOW United Kingdom
    
58. LOS ANGELES, CA United States
    
59. CLEVELAND, OH United States
    
60. MINNEAPOLIS, MN United States
    
61. ROME Italy
    
62. MIAMI, FL United States
    
63. YOKKAICHI Japan
    
64. DETROIT, MI United States
    
65. ST. LOUIS, MO United States
    
66. ATLANTA, GA United States
    
67. LEIPZIG Germany
    
68. HOUSTON, TX United States
    
69. OMUTA Japan
    
70. HONG KONG Hong Kong
    
71. SAN JUAN Puerto Rico
    
72. PRAGUE Czech Republic
    
73. KATSUYAMA Japan
    
74. BUDAPEST Hungary
    
75. KUALA LUMPUR Malaysia
    
76. MONTEVIDEO Uruguay
    
77. PORT LOUIS Mauritius
    
78. ATHENS Greece
    
79. BUENOS AIRES Argentina
    
80. LJUBLJANA Slovenia
    
81. DUBAI United Arab Emirates
    
82. VILNIUS Lithuania
    
83. SANTIAGO Chile
    
84. TAIPEI Taiwan
    
85. CAPE TOWN South Africa
    
86. WARSAW Poland
    
87. SEOUL South Korea
    
88. ABU DHABI United Arab Emirates
    
89. TALLINN Estonia
    
90. JOHANNESBURG South Africa
    
91. LIMASSOL Cyprus
    
92. RIGA Latvia
    
93. PANAMA CITY Panama
    
94. MONTERREY Mexico
    
95. TUNIS Tunisia
    
96. VICTORIA Seychelles
    
97. PAPEETE French Polynesia
    
98. PORT ELIZABETH South Africa
    
99. BRATISLAVA Slovakia
    
100. SHANGHAI China
     
101. JOHOR BAHARU Malaysia
     
102. NOUMEA New Caledonia
     
103. KAOHSIUNG Taiwan
     
104. BRASILIA Brazil
     
105. TEL AVIV Israel
     
106. SAN JOSE Costa Rica
     
107. ZAGREB Croatia
     
108. BUCHAREST Romania
     
109. BANGKOK Thailand
     
110. YEOCHUN (YOSU) South Korea
     
111. ASUNCION Paraguay
     
112. NASSAU Bahamas
     
113. ULSAN South Korea
     
114. SAO PAULO Brazil
     
115. RIO DE JANEIRO Brazil
     
116. BEIJING China
     
117. SOFIA Bulgaria
     
118. QUITO Ecuador
     
119. CASABLANCA Morocco
     
120. LIMA Peru
     
121. ISTANBUL Turkey
     
122. JERUSALEM Israel
     
123. MANAMA Bahrain
     
124. MANILA Philippines
     
125. GUAYAQUIL Ecuador
     
126. MANAUS Brazil
     
127. SANTO DOMINGO Dominican Republic
     
128. MEXICO CITY Mexico
     
129. AMMAN Jordan
     
130. CAIRO Egypt
     
131. GUANGZHOU China
     
132. RAYONG Thailand
     
133. KUWAIT CITY Kuwait
     
134. BLANTYRE Malawi
     
135. NANJING China
     
136. COLOMBO Sri Lanka
     
137. LUSAKA Zambia
     
138. KINGSTON Jamaica
     
139. LA PAZ Bolivia
     
140. GUATEMALA CITY Guatemala
     
141. CARACAS Venezuela
     
142. JAKARTA Indonesia
     
143. BOGOTA Colombia
     
144. MEDELLIN Colombia
     
145. SHENYANG China
     
146. DAKAR Senegal
     
147. BELGRADE Serbia
     
148. NEW DELHI India
     
149. SANTA CRUZ Bolivia
     
150. HO CHI MINH CITY Vietnam
     
151. MUMBAI India
     
152. SKOPJE Macedonia
     
153. BANGALORE India
     
154. ACCRA Ghana
     
155. LIBREVILLE Gabon
     
156. NAIROBI Kenya
     
157. HANOI Vietnam
     
158. ISLAMABAD Pakistan
     
159. CHENNAI (MADRAS) India
     
160. SARAJEVO Bosnia-Herzegovina
     
161. JILIN China
     
162. JEDDAH Saudi Arabia
     
163. LAHORE Pakistan
     
164. RIYADH Saudi Arabia
     
165. ST. PETERSBURG Russia
     
166. SAN SALVADOR El Salvador
     
167. KIEV Ukraine
     
168. HARARE Zimbabwe
     
169. VIENTIANE Laos, People's Dem. Republic Of
     
170. MANAGUA Nicaragua
     
171. MOSCOW Russia
     
172. COTONOU Benin
     
173. DJIBOUTI Djibouti
     
174. TRIPOLI Libya
     
175. KARACHI Pakistan
     
176. DAMASCUS Syria
     
177. TEHRAN Iran
     
178. ALGIERS Algeria
     
179. BEIRUT Lebanon
     
180. SAN PEDRO SULA Honduras
     
181. TIRANA Albania
     
182. YAOUNDE Cameroon
     
183. MINSK Belarus
     
184. ALMATY Kazakhstan
     
185. YANGON Myanmar
     
186. DOUALA Cameroon
     
187. MAPUTO Mozambique
     
188. NOVOSIBIRSK Russia
     
189. HAVANA Cuba
     
190. DAR ES SALAAM Tanzania
     
191. KAZAN Russia
     
192. LOME Togo
     
193. BAKU Azerbaijan
     
194. BAMAKO Mali
     
195. ABIDJAN Ivory Coast
     
196. LUANDA Angola
     
197. ADDIS ABABA Ethiopia
     
198. TASHKENT Uzbekistan
     
199. LAGOS Nigeria
     
200. PORT AU PRINCE Haiti
     
201. ANTANANARIVO Madagascar
     
202. NIAMEY Niger
     
203. DHAKA Bangladesh
     
204. OUAGADOUGOU Burkina Faso
     
205. CONAKRY Guinea Republic
     
206. NOUAKCHOTT Mauritania
     
207. KINSHASA Dem. Rep. Of The Congo
     
208. PORT HARCOURT Nigeria
     
209. SANAA Yemen Arab Republic
     
210. NDJAMENA Chad
     
211. POINTE NOIRE Congo
     
212. KHARTOUM Sudan
     
213. BANGUI Central African Republic
     
214. BRAZZAVILLE Congo
     
215. BAGHDAD Iraq

[djrajio]

Sadly LA is 50+. I think Tokyo is too high. I definitely would rate New York higher than Tokyo based on quality of life...but I'm young and don't care about safety too much.

That said, Economist's most recent 10 most expensive world cities has:

Oslo, Norway 134

Paris, France 130

Copenhagen, Denmark 126

London, UnitedKingdom 125

Tokyo, Japan 124

Osaka, Japan 118

Reykjavic, Iceland 118

Zurich, Switzerland 118

Frankfurt, Germany 116

Helsinki, Finland 116

Interesting to see a high correlation between the most expensive cities and the highest quality of living...

[lms]

You should provide a little more information on the report.

http://www.mercerhr.com/pressrelease/details.jhtml/dynamic/idContent/1173105

"Scores are based on the quality and availability of hospital and medical supplies and levels of air pollution and infectious diseases. The efficiency of waste removal and sewage systems, water potability and the presence of harmful animals and insects are also taken into account. "

Who cares. It's all bullshit. A good city is any city djrajio isn't living in.

[djrajio]

Who cares. It's all bullshit. A good city is any city djrajio isn't living in.

(10 sad characters)

[Fuuma]

(10 sad characters)

Well at least his criteria isn't too restrictive, you should feel proud. I mean I ask for an interesting nightlife, good restaurents, nice people, great parties, interesting cultural life, french cinemas, etc etc and all this dude wants is "NOT YOU".

[Tisswat]

Time for a similar survey based on superfuture criteria. Somebody call somebody.

[Shark]

Shark Edit

[Vitamian]

A good city is a city with sophistication and a corrupt administration. For example, Berlin in the '30s and Shanghai in the '30s--and to an extent, Shanghai today.

[tec761]

A good city is a city with sophistication and a corrupt administration. For example, Berlin in the '30s and Shanghai in the '30s--and to an extent, Shanghai today.

all the top cities have ridiculously high taxes.

[BOORADLEY]

ottawa shouldnt even be on that list! let alone higher than calgary and montreal!

[Vitamian]

Maybe they should have put some Saudi Arabian cities there.

[Bandwagonesque]

ottawa shouldnt even be on that list! let alone higher than calgary and montreal!

STFU...

(agrees with you somewhat ).

[Kasper]

ottawa shouldnt even be on that list! let alone higher than calgary and montreal!

yeah i know, Ottawa is BORING, but hey, 20% of the top 25 cities are from Canada (and Canada's lower ranked city, Calgary, is 24th) which is good.

[snugglepony]

46. PORTLAND, OR United States

50. SEATTLE, WA United States

WHERE THE FUCK IS ARTIFICIALSKY?

[Vitamian]

What about Tehran?

[Kasper]

What about Tehran?

177

.........

[Fuuma]

The authors were obviously high on a potent mix of uppers and psychotrops when they visited Switzerland, people who would blame them have obviously never visited this god forsaken land of eternal boredom.

Sorry to our Swiss posters....

[bapelolol]

wow 604 at #3 crazy..

[Vitamian]

177

.........

I imagine Pyongyang to be very clean.

[nettiemoore]

not surprised vancouvers at the top of the list again.

[JesseJB]

Seattle's better than Rome? hmm thats going to be my new pickup line when Im out of town!

[LanceP]

Fuck L.A.

"Los Angeles is where you go to die."

[herpsky]

atlanta being better than Hong kong?

that can't be right

atlanta is full of class A d-bags with the ghetto-fabulous mentality that have no taste in anything (or retards who think atlanta's local "scene" is teh hot stuff)

[sean_]

ottawa shouldnt even be on that list! let alone higher than calgary and montreal!

god you couldnt be any more right

good to see so much canada on there tho i guess

[thewindsong]

The authors were obviously high on a potent mix of uppers and psychotrops when they visited Switzerland, people who would blame them have obviously never visited this god forsaken land of eternal boredom.

I beg to differ, Switzerland has an awesome nightlife. Vancouver is the land of eternal boredom, and something has to be done...=/

[nettiemoore]

I beg to differ, Switzerland has an awesome nightlife. Vancouver is the land of eternal boredom, and something has to be done...=/

really? whats your reasoning for saying that about vancouver, id like to know.

[thewindsong]

really? whats your reasoning for saying that about vancouver, id like to know.

-seriously lacking in hot girls

-said lacking hot girls are haughty to the max

-clique like hell

-snobby, lame people who standards are way too high... they just don't know any better

[newaesthetic]

god you couldnt be any more right

good to see so much canada on there tho i guess

Yeah, talk about mixed feelings. Nice to see Canada taking so many spots, but I really don't see how most of our cities compare so favourably to places a whole lot more exciting around the world. Seriously, Ottawa?

[Gabriel]

I don't think such categorisation is possible. It's too subjective. No one agrees. Paris for instance can be really good for some and really bad for others. It gets ranked as really expensive but it's way cheaper than London or NYC. Switzerland and Scandiavia being high makes sense. Melbourne should be higher, it's a really nice place now.

[Kasper]

Yeah, talk about mixed feelings. Nice to see Canada taking so many spots, but I really don't see how most of our cities compare so favourably to places a whole lot more exciting around the world. Seriously, Ottawa?

the survey is done using variables that can be QUANTIFIED so excitement, culture, art etc are not factored into the calculation. they explain very well that everyone has a different definition of what constitute "quality of living" and so big cities (London, NYC, Tokyo, Paris, etc) represent a challenge as it's pretty clear that many ppl consider the advantages of the cities (culture, arts, you get the point) to clearly outweight the negative aspects (high cost of living, polution etc). since all the "excitement" variables are way too subjective, none are including in the calculation. you can clearly see a pattern of the top cities being from countries that have low income inequalities, universal health care, low corruption etc.