Best Cities in the World ~ Survey

[ocelot]

Vancouver leads Canadian cities in world survey
Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Calgary also in top 25
Last Updated: Monday, April 2, 2007 | 8:43 AM MT
CBC News
Not only do Vancouverites live in the world's third-best urban centre, but they also enjoy the highest overall quality of life in Canada.

So says an annual international survey published Monday that ranked 215 cities around the globe, based on 39 criteria measuring such quality-of-life determinants as personal safety and social, economic and environmental conditions.


RANK CITY SCORE
1 Zurich, Switzerland 108.1
2 Geneva, Switzerland 108
3 Vancouver, Canada/ Vienna, Austria 107.7
5 Auckland, New Zealand/Dusseldorf, Germany 107.3
7 Frankfurt, Germany 107.1
8 Munich, Germany 106.9
9 Bern, Switzerland/ Sydney, Australia 106.5

Vancouver — which tied with Vienna, Austria, at 107.7 points — fell just short of top-ranked Swiss cities Zurich (108.1 points) and runner-up Geneva (108 points).

But Vancouver was not the lone Canadian city to crack the top 25.

Mercer Human Resource Consulting, which conducted the survey, also included Toronto at 15th, Ottawa at 18th, Montreal at 22nd and Calgary at 24th. Every Canadian city scored better than all the U.S. cities surveyed.

Still, Vancouver led Canadian cities in the global ranking even after foul weather last year that saw storms knock out electricity for days and even set off a boil-water advisory.

Crime was weak spot
So where did Vancouver falter? Mercer research spokeswoman Danielle Bushen noted that Vancouver scored well all over the board except in its weak spot — crime.

"Crime rates in North America tend to be slightly higher than in Europe in general and this holds true when you compare locations like Zurich and Geneva to Vancouver," Bushen said.

Bushen said the frigid Canadian winters do count against places like Calgary, Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto, but for the most part they are stable and safe places to live.

"All of those things that could cause real differences in quality of life, and really create significant limitations on a person's quality of life, just aren't an issue. So we rate very highly," she said.

In terms of health and sanitation, Calgary scored top points as the cleanest city in the world, followed by Ottawa in fourth place, Montreal and Vancouver tied for 10th and Toronto at 21st.

The survey scores were determined by how they stacked up against one "base city," in this case New York, which was assigned a base score of 100.

By comparison, the scores for the Canadian cities were:

Toronto at 15th place, 105.4 points.
Ottawa at 18th place, 104.8 points.
Montreal at 22nd place, 104.3 points.
Calgary at 24th place, 103.6 points.
The wartorn Iraqi capital of Baghdad was considered the least desirable city to live in, with a score of 14.5.

2007 Rank 2006 Rank City Country Points
1 1 Zurich Switzerland 108.1
2 2 Geneva Switzerland 108.0
=3 3 Vancouver Canada 107.7
=3 4 Vienna Austria 107.7
=5 5 Auckland New Zealand 107.3
=5 6 Düsseldorf Germany 107.3
7 7 Frankfurt Germany 107.1
8 8 Munich Germany 106.9
=9 9 Bern Switzerland 106.5
=9 9 Sydney Australia 106.5
11 11 Copenhagen Denmark 106.2
12 12 Wellington New Zealand 105.8
13 13 Amsterdam Netherlands 105.7
14 14 Brussels Belgium 105.6
15 15 Toronto Canada 105.4
16 16 Berlin Germany 105.2
17 17 Melbourne Australia 105.0
=18 18 Luxembourg Luxembourg 104.8
=18 21 Ottawa Canada 104.8
20 20 Stockholm Sweden 104.7
21 21 Perth Australia 104.5
22 22 Montreal Canada 104.3
23 23 Nürnberg Germany 104.2
=24 25 Calgary Canada 103.6
=24 25 Hamburg Germany 103.6
26 31 Oslo Norway 103.5
=27 24 Dublin Ireland 103.3
=27 27 Honolulu USA 103.3
29 28 San Francisco USA 103.2
=30 29 Adelaide Australia 103.1
=30 29 Helsinki Finland 103.1
32 31 Brisbane Australia 102.8
33 33 Paris France 102.7
34 34 Singapore Singapore 102.5
35 35 Tokyo Japan 102.3
=36 37 Lyon France 101.9
=36 36 Boston USA 101.9
38 37 Yokohama Japan 101.7
39 39 London UK 101.2
40 40 Kobe Japan 101.0
41 44 Barcelona Spain 100.6
=42 45 Madrid Spain 100.5
=42 51 Osaka Japan 100.5
=44 41 Washington DC USA 100.4
=44 41 Chicago USA 100.4
46 43 Portland USA 100.3
47 53 Lisbon Portugal 100.1
48 46 New York City USA 100.0
=49 51 Milan Italy 99.9
=49 47 Seattle USA 99.9

[ocelot]

The world’s best cities are still in Switzerland

A report by Mercer Consulting
3 April 2007: Zurich and Geneva are the best cities in the world as far as quality of live is concerned, says Mercer Consulting in a survey published in April 2007. Vancouver (Canada) is placed third, followed by Vienna (Austria), Auckland (New Zealand), Düsseldorf (Germany) and Frankfurt (Germany). Paris, London and Madrid are in the lower half of the top-50 table. Overall, Baghdad is not surprisingly the lowest ranking city in the survey.

EIU names Vancouver, Melbourne and Vienna as 'best' cities in the world

Other cities in Europe and Australia continue to dominate the top end of the rankings for overall quality of living. In fact, there are very few changes in the top half of the 2007 table. Auckland and Düsseldorf share joint fifth place and score 107.3 points. Frankfurt and Munich follow with scores of 107.1 and 106.9 respectively. Bern and Sydney both score 106.5 points and share joint 9th place. However, Paris is only ranked 33rd, with London in 39th place. Madrid improved from 45th, in 2006, to 42nd place in 2007. Oslo gains five places at the expense of Dublin, which drops to 27th place.

The analysis is based on an evaluation of 39 quality-of-living criteria for each city including political, social, economic and environmental factors, personal safety and health, education, transport and other public services.

Baghdad remains the world’s least enticing city for expatriates with a score of 14.5. Other low-scoring cities for overall quality of living include Brazzaville in Congo (29.5), Bangui in the Central African Republic (30.6) and Khartoum in Sudan (31).

The survey makes clear that in recent years, the gap between low-ranking and high-ranking cities had widened. “While standards have improved in some regions, there remains a stark contrast between those cities where overall quality of living is good and those experiencing political and economic turmoil,” the authors say.

Health & sanitation
The lowest-ranking city for health and sanitation is Baku in Azerbaijan, which scores just 27.6. Other low-scoring cities include Dhaka in Bangladesh, Antananarivo in Madagascar and Port Au Prince in Haiti, which score 29.6, 30.1 and 34 respectively.

“Poor countries often lack adequate medical infrastructure including hospitals and health networks. Furthermore, provision of care is hampered by poor sanitation and unsafe water facilities in many areas,” said Slagin Parakatil, senior researcher at Mercer. “The development of efficient waste removal and sewage systems, coupled with government investment in medical infrastructure, will be key to avoiding pandemic outbreaks of diseases and for improving general living standards.”

Europe, Middle East and Africa health and sanitation rankings
Almost half of the 30 top-scoring cities surveyed are in Western Europe. Helsinki has the highest score for the region, at position 3 with a rating of 128.5. Oslo, Stockholm and Zurich all rank 6th with a score of 125. London is ranked 63 with a score of 111.2.

Most Eastern European cities have relatively low scores, except for Prague in the Czech Republic which scores highest, at position 75 with a score of 101.3. Russian cities have the poorest scores in this area. Moscow, St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk and Kazan take positions 201,184, 182 and 174 respectively with ratings of 43.4, 50.5, 51.1 and 54.

Abu Dhabi and Dubai are the highest-ranking Middle Eastern cities and share position 58 with a score of 112.9. African cities typically rank in lower positions than their European and Middle Eastern counterparts, with many appearing in the 20 bottom-scoring cities.

“The availability of public and private hospital care, together with modern medical infrastructure, means healthcare standards in Europe are generally very high. Medical provision in the Middle East, especially the United Arab Emirates, has also benefited from substantial government investment,” said Mr. Parakatil. “In impoverished countries - where medical care and sanitation are often poor - it can be advisable for expatriates to seek private treatment.”

Americas health and sanitation rankings
All of the Canadian cities covered by the survey appear in the top 25 rankings for health and sanitation. Calgary is followed by Ottawa in position 4 with a score of 127.2. Montreal and Vancouver both rank in 10th place (score 123.7). Toronto is at position 21 with a rating of 122.4.

In the US, Honolulu ranks highest followed by Minneapolis in 5th place scoring 125.7. Boston, Lexington and Pittsburgh rank joint 10th with a score of 123.7. Mexico City scores poorly at position 211 with a rating of 37.7; geographical issues and a high level of air pollution explain this low ranking. Other low-scoring cities in North America are Atlanta and Houston, in positions 96 and 103 respectively with scores of 92.3 and 85.2.

The survey says: “Growing traffic congestion, industrial plants and other pollutants reduce air quality in some American cities, which may undermine the otherwise pleasant living standards.”

Cities in Central and South America tend to feature much lower in the rankings than those in North America. San Juan in Puerto Rico ranks highest in 67th place (score 108.9). Port Au Prince is the lowest-ranking city in the region, in position 212 with an index of 34.

Asia-Pacific health and sanitation rankings
Auckland and Wellington in New Zealand rank in joint 18th place, with a rating of 123.1. All the Australian cities covered by the survey rank higher than New York, the base city. Adelaide is the highest-scoring city in Australia at position 35 (score 119.5) while Sydney is the lowest in 62nd place (score 111.3).

Japan is home to the five highest-rated cities in Asia. Katsuyama leads in 9th position with a score of 123.8, followed by Kobe and Omuta in joint 25th place (score 122). Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka come in joint 53rd place and score 113.5.

Elsewhere in this region, Singapore ranks in 50th place with a score of 114, while Hong Kong is at position 117 and scores 80.8. Shanghai and Beijing are China’s highest and lowest-ranking cities in 134th and 166th place respectively (scoring 73.8 and 60.3). Modernisation of medical infrastructure has improved living standards in these Chinese cities. However, air pollution and inadequate waste removal and sewage systems are still a concern – particularly in Beijing.

Indian cities score relatively poorly for health and sanitation, with scores ranging from 52.8 for Chennai (position 177) to 38.2 for Mumbai (position 209). Most Indian cities are densely populated with poor waste removal and sewage systems. These issues, combined with increasing air pollution, contribute to their relatively low ratings.

“Expatriates on assignment in some locations - for example Africa, the Middle East and some parts of Asia, Europe and Latin America - can face harsher living conditions and lower standards of medical care and facilities than they are accustomed to,” commented Mr Parakatil. “The threat of infectious diseases and environmental risks are very real in some cities and should be taken into account. Migration and mobility can exacerbate the transmission of diseases, and this should be a top concern for employers managing international assignments.”

Methodology:
Data was largely collected between September and November 2006 and is regularly updated to take account of changing circumstances. In particular, the assessments will be revised in the case of any new developments. The Mercer database contains more than 350 cities, however only 215 cities have been considered for the quality of living 2007 ranking in order to compare from one year to the next.

Mercer’s 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)
• Health and sanitation (medical supplies and services, infectious diseases, sewage, waste disposal, air pollution, etc)
• Schools and education (standard and availability of international 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)

[achebeautiful]

That is great, Leona, but shouldn't you have put the posts under the "Official Bragging Rights" board? Something to be very proud of!

[lapayin]

Cool to see Boston on the list. Even cooler that it beat out New York (our arch rivals - at least in baseball). Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm Sweden - 20 Boston - 36. Karl be kind. LOL

Lots of German cities. Nice to see so many Canadian cities. I have been to Toronto and Montreal. Montreal is one of my favorite cities. Now I have the urge to travel.

[kalel]

Kind, yah well, hrrrrrm. I'm working on it. ;D ;D

Nice to see our capital this high on the list.
I live about two hours away from Stockholm and visit on and off.

Paula, you are welcome to checkit out for yourself, anyday. Just mess me your flightnumber and I'll pick you up.




BTW, that ship, Af Chapman, is a hostel. Nice location, huh?

Live long and Love Lara
/Kalel