According to the annual World-wide Quality of Living Survey by Mercer Human Resource Consulting, Zurich ranks as the world's top city for quality of living, scoring 108.2 - marginally ahead of Geneva which achieved a score of 108.1.

The analysis covers more than 350 cities which are assessed on an evaluation of 39 separate criteria including political, social, economic and environmental factors, personal safety and health, education, transport, and other public services. Cities are ranked against New York as the base city, which has an index score of 100.

“When multinational companies set up expatriate assignments they have to provide attractive reward packages to compensate employees for any negative changes to their quality of living,” Yvonne Sonsino, Principal at Mercer, commented.

“Moving abroad can be a big upheaval for expatriates and their families, so international assignments tend to carry large price tags, particularly if they are in cities with low living standards facing political unrest or terrorist threats,” she added.

Vancouver was placed third in the Mercer ranking with a score of 107.7, but almost half the top 30 scoring cities are in Western Europe.

In this region, Vienna follows Zurich and Geneva in 4th position with a score of 107.5. Other highly-rated cities include Düsseldorf (107.2), Frankfurt (107.0) and Munich (106.8) in positions 6, 7 and 8 respectively. Athens remains the lowest scoring city in Western Europe, scoring 86.8 at position 79.

London is the UK’s highest ranking city and is stable at position 39 (score 101.2). The two other UK cities covered in the survey are Birmingham and Glasgow, which both score 98.3 and climb one place to joint 55th position.

Dublin has dropped two places to 24th position, scoring 103.8, mainly due to increased traffic congestion.

Cities in Eastern Europe such as Budapest, Ljubljana, Prague, Vilnius, Tallinn and Warsaw continue to benefit from incremental score increases and are gradually climbing the rankings.

“The standard of living in many Eastern European cities is gradually improving, as the countries that most recently joined the EU attract greater investment,” commented Slagin Parakatil, Senior Researcher at Mercer.

“Yet cities such as Dubai may still offer a wider variety of facilities demanded by expatriates – for example, well-connected international airports and better opportunities for recreation and leisure activities – compared to many Eastern European cities," he added.

Unsurprisingly, Baghdad ranks as the least attractive city for expatriates for a third consecutive year, with a score of 14.5. Other low-ranking cities for overall quality of living include Brazzaville in Congo (score 30.3) and Bangui in the Central African Republic and Khartoum in Sudan (30.6 and 31.7).

In the U.S., Honolulu, is the highest ranking city but drops two positions to 27th with a score of 103.3. San Francisco remains at 28th position and scores 103.2. Boston, Washington, Chicago and Portland follow in positions 36, 41, 41 and 43 respectively (scores 101.9, 100.4, 100.4 and 100.3) while Houston remains the lowest ranking city in the U.S. at position 68 (score 95.4).

In Australasia, Auckland and Wellington have both moved up the rankings from 8th to 5th and 14th to 12th places respectively, mainly due to strong internal stability relative to other cities, while Sydney remains at position 9 with a score of 106.5.

In Asia, Singapore ranks 34th (score 102.5) followed by Tokyo, Japan’s highest scoring city, at position 35 (score 102.3).

Hong Kong’s modern and efficient infrastructure, including its airport (which is considered one of best in the world), has pushed it up from 70th to 68th position with a score of 95.4. The top-ranking city in China is Shanghai in 103rd place (score 80.1).

“Beijing and Shanghai are on the rise and should experience rapid improvements in quality of living in the coming years. This is mainly due to greater international investment driven by the availability and lower cost of labour and manufacturing expertise,” explained Mr. Parakatil.