Mercer Quality of Living Survey

The Mercer Quality of Living Survey ranks 221 cities from Vienna to Baghdad on quality of life.^[1]

In 2010, Vienna won the title as the highest ranked city, followed by Zurich (2), Geneva (3), jointly Vancouver (4) and Auckland (4), and Düsseldorf (5). Vienna has been ranked first for six consecutive years. The quality of living survey is conducted to help governments and major companies place employees on international assignments.

The survey also identifies those cities with the highest personal safety ranking based upon internal stability, crime, effectiveness of law enforcement and relationships with other countries. In this case, Luxembourg is top, followed by Bern, Helsinki and Zurich, all equally placed at number 2.

The survey traditionally shows a strong dominance of German speaking cities in its top ranks.

Scoring

The cities — 221 in total — were evaluated on 39 factors including political, economic, environmental, personal safety, health, education, transportation and other public service factors. Cities were compared to New York City which was given a base score of 100.

2015 Rank	2014 Rank	2012 Rank	2010 Rank	City	Country	Index 2010
1	1	1	1	Vienna	Austria	108.6
2	2	2	2	Zurich	Switzerland	108.0
8	8	8	3	Geneva	Switzerland	107.9
5	5	5	4	Vancouver	Canada	107.4
4	4	4	7	Munich	Germany	107.0
3	3	3	4	Auckland	New Zealand	107.4
6	6	6	6	Düsseldorf	Germany	107.2
7	7	7	7	Frankfurt	Germany	107.0
13	10	10	9	Bern	Switzerland	106.5
10	10	10	10	Sydney	Australia	106.3
9	9	9	11	Copenhagen	Denmark	106.2
12	12	13	12	Wellington	New Zealand	105.9
11	11	12	13	Amsterdam	Netherlands	105.7
16	14	14	14	Ottawa	Canada	105.5
22		22	15	Brussels	Belgium	105.4
15	15	15	16	Toronto	Canada	105.3
14		16	17	Berlin	Germany	105.0
16		17	18	Melbourne	Australia	104.8
19		19	19	Luxembourg	Luxembourg	104.6
19		19	20	Stockholm	Sweden	104.5
22		21	21	Perth	Australia	104.2
24	23	23	21	Montreal	Canada	104.2
16		17	23	Hamburg	Germany	104.1
25		24	24	Nuremberg	Germany	103.9
31		32	24	Oslo	Norway	103.9
30		26	26	Canberra	Australia	103.6
34	34	35	26	Dublin	Ireland	103.6
33		32	28	Calgary	Canada	103.5
26		25	28	Singapore	Singapore	103.5
21		27	30	Stuttgart	Germany	103.3
36		28	31	Honolulu	United States	103.1
27		29	32	Adelaide	Australia	103.0
27	27	29	32	San Francisco	United States	103.0
27		29	34	Paris	France	102.9
31		32	35	Helsinki	Finland	102.6
37		37	36	Brisbane	Australia	102.4
34		35	37	Boston	United States	102.2
40		38	39	London	United Kingdom	101.6
39		39	38	Lyon	France	101.9
44		44	40	Tokyo	Japan	101.4
41		41	41	Milan	Italy	100.8
47		48	41	Kobe	Japan	100.8
48		49	41	Yokohama	Japan	100.8
38		40	44	Barcelona	Spain	100.6
41	43	44	45	Lisbon	Portugal	100.3
43		42	45	Chicago	United States	100.3
50		43	45	Washington DC	United States	100.3
51		49	48	Madrid	Spain	100.2
44		44	49	New York City	United States	100.0
44		44	50	Seattle	United States	99.8
54			49	Pittsburgh	United States
48				Los Angeles	United States

Top cities by region

North America

Rank	Overall Ranking 2010	City	Quality of living
1	4	Vancouver	107.4
2	14	Ottawa	105.5
3	16	Toronto	105.3
4	21	Montréal	104.2
5	28	Calgary	103.5

Asia

Rank	Overall Ranking 2010	City	Quality of living
1	28	Singapore	103.5
2	40	Tokyo	101.4
3	41	Yokohama	100.8
4	41	Kobe	100.8
5	51	Osaka	100.5

Europe

Rank	Overall Ranking	City	Quality of living
1	1	Vienna	108.6
2	2	Zurich	108.0
3	3	Geneva	107.9
4	6	Düsseldorf	107.2
5	7	Munich	107.0

Oceania

Rank	Overall Ranking	City	Quality of living
1	4	Auckland	107.4
2	10	Sydney	106.3
3	12	Wellington	105.9
4	18	Melbourne	104.8
5	21	Perth	104.2

Middle East & North Africa

Rank	Overall Ranking	City	Quality of living
1	75	Dubai	87.0
2	83	Abu Dhabi	84.1
3	100	Muscat	81.7

Sub-Saharan Africa

Rank	Overall Ranking	City	Quality of living
1	82	Port Louis	87.7
2	86	Cape Town	85.7
3	90	Johannesburg	83.3

Latin America^[2][3]

2015 Rank (2012 Rank)	2015 Overall Ranking (2012 Overall Ranking)	City
1 (1)	78 (77)	Montevideo
2 (2)	91 (81)	Buenos Aires
3 (3)	93 (91)	Santiago
4 (4)	95 (93)	Panama City
5 (7)	106 (105)	San José
6 (5)	107 (101)	Brasília
7 (6)	109 (104)	Monterrey
8 (8)	114 (111)	Asunción
9 (9)	119 (112)	Rio de Janeiro
10 (10)	120 (115)	São Paulo
11 (12)	124 (121)	Lima
12 (11)	126 (120)	Mexico City
13 (-)	127 (-)	Manaus
14 (13)	129 (125)	Quito
14 (14)	131 (130)	Bogotá
15 (15)	150 (140)	Guatemala City

See also

• World's most livable cities
• Global Liveability Survey
• List of most expensive cities for expatriate employees

References

1. ↑ "Quality of Living worldwide city rankings 2010 – Mercer survey". Mercer.com. 26 May 2010. Archived from the original on 2011-07-25. Retrieved 29 August 2011. 
2. ↑ "Full 2012 rankings – Mercer survey". International HR Adviser. Retrieved 11 August 2013. 
3. ↑ "Full 2015 rankings – Mercer survey". Mercer. March 4, 2015. Retrieved 6 March 2015. 

External links

• Mercer's Quality of Living survey page
• 2011 Quality of Living Worldwide Survey – city rankings (press release ). Mercer.com. Archived from the original on 28.11.2012.

• 2011 Mercer Quality of Living Interactive World Map
• 2012 Quality of Living Worldwide Survey – city rankings (press release)
• Full rankings