Zurich = #1 Quality of Living City! AGAIN! Boo yah.So it's not just me that loves Zurich and thinks it's the bee knees. From the results of Mercer's Quality of Living Survey, it sounds like living in Switzerland is all it's cracked up to be.
For the SEVENTH time, Zürich has topped the survey, making it the best place to live (for expats)! Geneva and Vienna tied for second, and Bern came in 9th. Not too bad overall Switzerland, not too shabby at all.
Some things that I found interesting about the survey are:
- The survey was skewed towards the expatriates' perspective, so the name of the survey should really be 'Best Quality of Living Standards - for Expatriates' -The results could be completely different if the questions were asked in regards to nationals. For one, perhaps the Swiss don't appreciate all the expats that surveys like this are bringing into Zürich - ever think about that?!
- Perth is 21st on the list - nicely done Perth...
- The top 5 in the Americas were ALL in Canada!!! (Boston was 36th... but still on the list, not too shabby. Houston was not! Wise move on our part...)
- They make a big point of stating that this is a Quality of Living index, not a quality of life index, they say "What makes one person's quality of life better or worse cannot be quantified in an objective index. Therefore, Mercer's Quality of Living report reflects only the tangible aspects of living in a city on expatriate assignments, and leaves the question of the quality of one's life to those living it!" It's "based on several criteria used to judge whether an expatriate is entitled to a hardship allowance." Interesting... looks like expats in Zürich aren't getting a hardship allowance - but that's ok, I think most would rather forgo the allowance than work in Baghdad (see rankings below).
Here are the raw scores and highlights from the report:Mercer Human Resource Consulting Worldwide Quality of Living survey 2007 (top 10 cities):
- Zurich 108.1 (Oh yeah, I knew there was a reason we moved here!)
- Geneva 108.0
- Vancouver 107.7
- Vienna 107.7
- Auckland 107.3
- Dusseldorf 107.3
- Frankfurt 107.1
- Munich 106.9
- Bern 106.5
- Sydney 106.5
- Lowest ranked: Baghdad 14.5
2 comments:
I was going to tell you about this article:) I'm happy that Canada made it to the list, however, I do not agree that Toronto is a better city than the rest. That city stinks and is not safe to live if you go to the ghetto. Anyway, that's just my opinion. Good job on being number 1 again, Zurich:)
Go Munich! Although I find it hard to believe that Frankfurt is higher on the list... perhaps the survey over-values cleanliness and safety at the expense of local color? :)
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