ZCZC
BCN-33
WORLD-ECONOMY-CITIES-HUMAN-RESOURCES
Life’s a ball in Vienna as city tops world rankings for 10th year
PARIS, March 13, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Vienna has been named the city with the
best quality of life for a 10th consecutive year in a survey published
Wednesday.
The Austrian capital was one of eight European cities in the top 10 in the
survey by Mercer, a human-resources consultancy.
In second place was Zurich, followed in joint third place by Munich,
Vancouver and Auckland, New Zealand.
Duesseldorf in Germany took sixth followed by Frankfurt, Copenhagen,
Geneva and Basel.
London was ranked 41st and Paris was 39th, although the study, carried out
between September and November 2018, did not take into account France’s
‘yellow vest’ anti-government protests.
The survey, designed as a tool to help international organisations
determine salary levels for expatriate employees, is based on 39 criteria.
These include housing, political stability, crime, leisure, air pollution,
infrastructure, the health system, education and the economy.
Mercer said all US cities covered in the analysis fell in the rankings
this year, with the exception of New York, which rose one place to 44 as
crime rates there continue to fall. San Fransisco was the top-ranked US city
at 34.
In Asia, Singapore has the highest quality of living at 25th place,
followed by Tokyo and Kobe (joint 49th). Hong Kong was ranked 71st and Seoul
77nd.
At the other end of the table, the lowest ranked city was Baghdad at 231.
Bangui, capital of the Central African Republic, and Sanaa in Yemen were
230th and 229th respectively.
BSS/AFP/HR/1500