Austria’s capital Vienna has bagged the top ranking in the world as the best city to live in, according to the 18th Mercer Quality of Life Study. Three German cities, namely, Munich, Dusseldorf and Frankfurt find a place in the top ten cities with rankings at number 4, 6 and 7 respectively.
Mercer’s survey is one of the world’s most comprehensive, and is conducted annually to enable multinational companies and other employers to compensate employees fairly when placing them on international assignments. Employee incentives include a quality-of-living allowance and a mobility premium. This study provides valuable data as well as hardship premium recommendations for over 440 cities throughout the world. This year’s ranking includes 230 of these cities.
The list reveals that there is no Indian city among the top 100 cities. Among Indian cities, the top slot was bagged by Hyderabad (139) followed by Pune (144) and Bangalore (145). Among US cities, San Francisco (28) was ranked highest followed by Boston (34) and Honolulu (35). Singapore was ranked the highest among Asian cities at 26th place.
Mercer has evaluated local living conditions according to 39 factors, grouped in 10 categories, which include political, social and economic environment, medical and health considerations, schools and education, public services and transportation, housing and natural environment. The data were analysed between September and November 2015.
The top 10 cities, according to the list, are Vienna (Austria), Zurich (Switzerland) Auckland (New Zealand), Munich (Germany), Vancouver (Canada), Dusseldorf (Germany), Frankfurt (Germany), Geneva (Switzerland), Copenhagen (Denmark) and Sydney (Australia).