SINGAPORE, April 2 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ --
-- Cities in Western Europe, North America, Australasia and Japan
dominate the top of the rankings
-- Singapore scores highest for overall quality of living in Asia; Dhaka
in Bangladesh ranks lowest
-- Japan, New Zealand and Australia score highest for health and
sanitation in Asia Pacific, Dhaka in Bangladesh scores lowest
The 2007 Worldwide Quality of Living Survey by Mercer Human Resource Consulting has revealed that Zurich again ranks as the world's top city, with a rating of 108.1. The city narrowly out-ranks Geneva, which scores 108. Vancouver and Vienna follow in joint third place and score 107.7.
Cities in Europe, Australia and New Zealand continue to dominate the top end of the rankings for overall quality of living. Auckland and Dusseldorf 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.
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.
The rankings for cities in Asia Pacific remain relatively unchanged from 2006. Singapore (34th position) remains one position ahead of Tokyo and 36 positions ahead of Hong Kong, which slipped from 68th position to 70th position. Both Shanghai and Beijing have moved up, from 103rd to 100th and 121st to 116th position respectively. Although Indian cities still remain quite far down in the rankings, New Delhi has improved its position by two places, now ranking 148th position (with a score of 62.4).
Mr. Slagin Parakatil, senior researcher at Mercer commented that "Japanese cities remain amongst the top for overall quality of living, with an excellent infrastructure, political and economical stability. Singapore, the leading Asian city for quality of living overall also scores extremely well due to numerous expatriate facilities (restaurants, sports and leisure) and transportation (airport and public transport). Chinese cities, especially Beijing and Shanghai continue to improve much faster than some other cities in the country. Public transport, telecommunication and airports have dramatically improved".
Daphne Wong, senior associate based in Singapore added, "Singapore is ranked highly due to its political and economic environment, where the political stability and ease of doing business are appreciated by investors. Singapore also has excellent health services, its qualified medical practitioners and hospitals are easily accessible. The Government's continued investment in its infrastructure, education and healthcare helps to maintain a high standard of living; it now ventures into areas such as arts, encouraging different forms of creative expressions thereby providing a wider range of recreation. Although lately haze-created air pollution is a matter of concern, food and water are safe for consumption. Singapore is also a consumers' haven where goods from all over the world are readily available".
Ms. Gangapriya Chakraverti, Human Capital Product Solutions (HCPS) Business Leader in India said, "Companies are increasingly using factors like quality of living in their site selection process. As cities and companies vie with each other to attract investment, we are likely to see significant enhancements on some parameters that determine quality of living."
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).
Mr Parakatil said, "In recent years, the gap between low-ranking and high-ranking cities has 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."
Rankings for health and sanitation
Mercer's 2007 Worldwide Quality of Living Survey has also found that four of the world's five top-scoring cities for health and sanitation are in North America. Calgary ranks top with a score of 131.7, followed by Honolulu, which scores 130.3. Helsinki - the only European city in the top five -- follows closely in the rankings with a score of 128.5. Ottawa and Minneapolis take fourth and fifth places with scores of 127.2 and 125.7 respectively.
Scores are based on the quality and availability of hospital and medical supplies and levels of air pollution and infectious diseases. The efficiency of waste removal and sewage systems, water potability and the presence of harmful animals and insects are also taken into account.
Cities are ranked against New York as the base city which has an index score of 100. The analysis is part of Mercer's Worldwide Quality of Living Survey, covering 215 cities, which is conducted to help governments and major companies to place employees on international assignments.
Asia-Pacific
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 highest-rated cities in Asia. With a score of 122, Kobe ranks in 25th place while Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka come in joint 53rd place and score 113.5.
Singapore ranks in 50th place with a score of 114, while Hong Kong is at position 117 and scores 80.8. Mr. Parakatil commented, "Hong Kong is seeing a slight drop in the rankings mainly due to its increasing issues with air pollution, which have become a major concern for the city." Shanghai and Beijing are China's highest and lowest-ranking cities in 134th and 166th place respectively (scoring 73.8 and 60.3). Modernization 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.
Ms. Wong said, "A greater focus is put on health and sanitation, which may affect some cities' rankings dramatically. For example, Sydney that ranked 9th in the overall quality of living survey, ranked 62nd in terms of health and sanitation. While Singapore ranked 50th worldwide in health and sanitation, it is still the 7thth highest ranking Asian city, ahead of Tokyo that ranked 53rd. When comparing Singapore with Auckland, which ranked 18th worldwide but second in Asia Pacific, Singapore was ranked lower owing to medical and health considerations, which take into account air pollution and infectious diseases. In the natural environment and recreation categories, Auckland beat Singapore hands-down".
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. Mr. Parakatil added, "Overall, Indian cities have also increased their quality of living. Yet, India still requires major investments in the areas of health and sanitation including waste removal, sewage, water potability etc."
Americas
All of the Canadian cities covered by the survey appear in the top 25 rankings for health and sanitation. In the US, Honolulu ranks highest followed by Minneapolis in 5th place scoring 125.7. 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.
Europe, Middle East and Africa
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.
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.
Mr Parakatil concluded, "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."
Notes to Editors: 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.
The worldwide rankings are produced from the most recent Worldwide Quality of Living survey, conducted by Mercer Human Resource Consulting. Individual reports are produced for each city surveyed, but please note that there is no overall summary report available. The cost of comparative quality of living indexes between a base city and a host city is 300 Euros (multiple city comparisons are available). Further information and copies of the reports are available from Mercer Client Services, on +41 22 869 3000. Alternatively, please visit www.imercer.com/qolpr
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)
Full rankings are available upon request, please contact Virginie Gorgemans at virginie.gorgemans@mercer.com
Mercer Human Resource Consulting is a global leader for HR and related financial advice and services, with more than 15,000 employees serving clients in more than 180 cities and 42 countries and territories worldwide. The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc., which lists its stock (ticker symbol: MMC) on the New York, Chicago and London stock exchanges. For more information, visit mercerHR.com .
Contacts:
Virginie Gorgemans
Human Capital Product Solutions
Tel: +65-6327-5377
Email: virginie.gorgemans@mercer.com
