Vienna tops 'quality of living' list

Vienna tops 'quality of living' list

Vienna, Zurich and Geneva are the top three places in the world for quality of living, a survey claims, with only five British cities appearing in the top 100




Vienna in Austria has come top of a quality of living list

Oh Vienna: The Austrian capital has come top of a quality of living list. Photograph: David Levene for the Guardian

Seven cities in Germany, Austria and Switzerland have been ranked among the 10 best in the world for quality of living, according to a survey published today.

Vienna has the world's best quality of living, according to global consultancy Mercer, with Zurich and Geneva just behind it and Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Munich and Bern also in the top 10.

Only five British cities made it into the top 100 – London is the highest at 39 followed by Aberdeen (53), Brimingham (55), Glasgow (57) and Belfast (63).

Popular cities including Manchester, Leeds, Newcastle and Edinburgh were omitted from the list on the grounds that they are not popular with companies as relocation bases. Baghdad and Port-au-Prince were in the bottom 10 of the 221 cities that the survey compared, with Baghdad at 221.

Vienna has topped the list for the past five years, with all countries measured on a point-scoring index against New York, which is given a base score of 100. New York itself was ranked 49 in the list just behind Washington and Chicago.

Cities are assessed on local living conditions and analysed according to 39 factors in 10 categories. These include political stability, banking services, waste disposal, standard and availability of international schools, restaurants and theatres, and record of natural disasters.

The list is compiled to help governments and multi-national companies compensate employees fairly when placing them on international assignments.

Slagin Parakatil, senior researcher at Mercer, said: "As the world economy becomes more globalised, cities beyond the traditional financial centres are emerging as attractive places in which to expand or establish a business.

"Cities in many emerging markets, such as in the Middle East or Asia, have seen a significant influx of foreign companies and their expatriate employees in recent years."

Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Taipei in Taiwan, and Busan in South Korea all made it in to the top 100.

This year, Mercer also ranked cities on their eco-credentials for the first time, based on water availability, waste removal, quality of sewage systems, air pollution and traffic congestion. Calgary, Honolulu and Ottawa came first, second and third, while Scotland and Northern Ireland also did well with Aberdeen, Belfast and Glasgow in the top 50.

• This article was amended on 26 May 2010. The original said 'although Baghdad and Port-au-Prince in Haiti both made the top 100 even though they were deemed to be among the least desirable places to live'. This has been corrected.