Worldwide Quality of Living Survey

Worldwide Quality of Living Survey

April 02, 2007

    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
http://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 [e-mail]
.

    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 .


    For more information, please contact:
                                                        
     Virginie Gorgemans                                  
     Human Capital Product Solutions                       
              
     Tel:   [phone]                                  
                
     Email: [e-mail]