March 03, 2003 - Best Places To Live Internationally

For the second year in a row, Vancouver has finished second in a study ranking quality of life in 215 world cities.

The study, from Mercer Human Resource Consulting — a firm with offices in 40 countries — takes into account public safety, political stability, economics, culture, personal freedom, schools, transit and other public services.

Vancouver finished first in the same rankings two years ago, but slipped to second last year because of "traffic congestion" — leaving the top spot to Zurich. The Swiss city ranked first again this year.

In this year's survey, Toronto ranked 12th, tied with Brussels and the German city of Düsseldorf and up from 18th the year before. Ottawa was 20th, up five spots from last year. Montreal was 23rd, a two-spot improvement. Calgary was 26th, up from 31st.

Mercer said Scandinavian cities — which usually rank quite high on such surveys — were re-evaluated this year "on the basis of evidence relating to seasonal affective disorders caused by shorter daylight hours."

Some of their rankings appeared to slip as a result.

Helsinki dropped to 26th from sixth, while Oslo sank from 15th to 31st.

Many of the world's most-visited and most-romanticized cities rank quite low on the quality-of-life scale.

London ranked 39th, tied with Boston, Portland, the French city of Lyon and North Carolina's Winston-Salem. At 31st, Paris ranks behind Calgary, on par with the Australian cities of Brisbane and Adelaide and with Yokohama, Japan. New York ranked 44th.

The worst place in the world to live was Brazzaville, capital of the Republic of Congo. It ranked 215th. Many African cities were clustered at the bottom of the scale, but the Iraqi capital of Baghdad was third-last.

Mercer said the rankings were accurate as of November, 2002, but could be re-evaluated, especially if events in the Middle East warrant.

Ranked on public safety alone, Canada's cities are the safest in North America, the study says, "due to strict law enforcement and low crime rates."

All five cities tied for 25th in the world on this measure.

In the U.S., Honolulu, Houston and San Francisco were the safest, tying for 40th place worldwide. Washington, D.C., was North America's most dangerous city, ranking 107th.

Luxembourg was the safest city in the world; Bangui, in the Central African Republic, was deemed the most dangerous.

Overall rankings
Rank
2003		 Rank
2002		 City Country Index
2003		 Index
2002
1 1 Zurich Switzerland 106.5 106.5
2 2 Vancouver Canada 106 106
2 2 Vienna Austria 106 106
2 4 Geneva Switzerland 106 105.5
5 4 Sydney Australia 105 105.5
5 6 Auckland N.Z. 105 105
5 6 Copenhagen Denmark 105 105
5 6 Frankfurt Germany 105 105
5 10 Bern Switzerland 105 104.5
10 10 Munich Germany 104.5 104.5
10 12 Amsterdam Netherlands 104.5 104
12 15 Brussels Belgium 104 103.5
12 15 Düsseldorf Germany 104 103.5
12 18 Toronto Canada 104 103
15 12 Melbourne Australia 103.5 104
15 12 Stockholm Sweden 103.5 104
15 18 Luxembourg Luxembourg 103.5 103
15 22 Berlin Germany 103.5 102.5
15 22 Wellington N.Z. 103.5 102.5
20 18 Perth Australia 103 103
20 18 San Francisco U.S. 103 103
20 25 Ottawa Canada 103 102
23 22 Honolulu U.S. 102.5 102.5
23 25 Montreal Canada 102.5 102
23 35 Dublin Ireland 102.5 101
26 6 Helsinki Finland 102 105
26 25 Hamburg Germany 102 102
26 25 Nurnberg Germany 102 102
26 25 Tokyo Japan 102 102
26 31 Calgary Canada 102 101.5
31 15 Oslo Norway 101.5 103.5
31 25 Brisbane Australia 101.5 102
31 31 Paris France 101.5 101.5
31 31 Yokohama Japan 101.5 101.5
31 35 Adelaide Australia 101.5 101
36 31 Seattle U.S. 101 101.5
36 35 Kobe Japan 101 101
36 35 Singapore Singapore 101 101
39 40 Lyon France 100.5 100.5
39 41 Boston U.S. 100.5 100
39 41 London Britain 100.5 100
39 41 Winston Salem U.S. 100.5 100
39 51 Portland U.S. 100.5 99
44 41 Madrid Spain 100 100
44 41 New York U.S. 100 100
44 48 Lexington U.S. 100 99.5
47 41 Chicago U.S. 99.5 100
47 48 Osaka Japan 99.5 99.5
47 48 Pittsburgh U.S. 99.5 99.5
50 41 Washington, D.C. U.S. 99 100
50 51 Barcelona Spain 99 99
52 54 Nagoya Japan 98.5 98.5
53 35 Los Angeles U.S. 98 101
53 56 Minneapolis U.S. 98 98
55 51 Houston U.S. 97.5 99
55 57 Birmingham Britain 97.5 97.5
55 57 Glasgow Britain 97.5 97.5
55 57 Lisbon Portugal 97.5 97.5
55 57 St. Louis U.S. 97.5 97.5
55 57 Tsukuba Japan 97.5 97.5
55 63 Cleveland U.S. 97.5 96
62 63 Milan Italy 97 96
63 54 Atlanta U.S. 96.5 98.5
63 62 Miami U.S. 96.5 96.5
65 63 Detroit U.S. 96 96
66 66 Yokkaichi Japan 95 95
66 68 Rome Italy 95 93.5
68 67 Omuta Japan 94.5 94.5
69 70 Leipzig Germany 93.5 92.5
70 69 Hong Kong China 93 93
71 71 Katsuyama Japan 92 92
71 71 San Juan Puerto Rico 92 92
73 76 Prague Czech Republic 87.5 89
73 77 Kuala Lumpur Malaysia 87.5 87.5
75 73 Budapest Hungary 87 90.5
75 73 Buenos Aires Argentina 87 89.5
75 75 Montevideo Uruguay 87 89
78 78 Port Louis Mauritius 86.5 86
79 79 Santiago Chile 85 85.5
79 80 Taipei Taiwan 85 85
79 87 Athens Greece 85 82.5
82 81 Cape Town South Africa 84.5 83.5
83 81 Ljubljana Slovenia 83.5 83.5
83 81 Vilnius Lithuania 83.5 83.5
85 84 Johannesburg South Africa 83 83
85 84 Panama City Panama 83 83
87 87 Warsaw Poland 82 82
88 84 Limassol Cyprus 81.5 83
88 90 Dubai UAE 81.5 81
88 94 Seoul South Korea 81.5 80
91 89 Istanbul Turkey 81 81.5
91 105 Papeete French Polynesia 81 77.5
93 91 Monterrey Mexico 80.5 80.5
93 92 Port Elizabeth South Africa 80.5 80.5
93 92 Johor Baharu Malaysia 80.5 80
93 94 Victoria Seychelles 80.5 80
97 94 Riga Latvia 80 80
97 98 Noumea New Caledonia 80 79.5
97 98 Tunis Tunisia 80 79.5
100 94 Kaohsiung Taiwan 79.5 79.5
100 98 Abu Dhabi UAE 79.5 79
100 101 Tallinn Estonia 79.5 79
103 101 Brasilia Brazil 77.5 78.5
104 105 San Jose Costa Rica 77 77
104 105 Bangkok Thailand 77 76.5
106 109 Bratislava Slovakia 76.5 75.5
107 109 Sao Paulo Brazil 76 76
108 101 Lima Peru 75.5 77.5
108 109 Rio de Janeiro Brazil 75.5 76
110 108 Quito Ecuador 75 76.5
110 118 Yeochun/Yosu South Korea 75 73.5
112 104 Manila Philippines 74 77.5
112 112 Guayaquil Ecuador 74 75.5
112 112 Asuncion Paraguay 74 74
112 114 Cairo Egypt 74 74
116 114 Ulsan South Korea 73.5 74
116 116 Bucharest Romania 73.5 73.5
116 116 Casablanca Morocco 73.5 73.5
116 118 Tel Aviv Israel 73.5 73.5
116 118 Manama Bahrain 73.5 73
116 126 Nassau Bahamas 73.5 71.5
122 118 Santo Domingo Dominican Republic 73 73.5
122 123 Colombo Sri Lanka 73 72
124 124 Zagreb Croatia 72.5 72
125 122 Sofia Bulgaria 72 72.5
126 126 Jerusalem Israel 71 71
127 128 Amman Jordan 70.5 70.5
128 130 Manaus Brazil 70 69.5
128 130 Mexico City Mexico 70 69.5
128 134 Rayong Thailand 70 68.5
131 134 Shanghai China 69 68
132 128 Harare Zimbabwe 67 70.5
132 130 Kingston Jamaica 67 69
132 133 Blantyre Malawi 67 68.5
135 137 Bogota Colombia 66 66.5
135 139 Beijing China 66 66
135 140 La Paz Bolivia 66 65.5
138 137 Jakarta Indonesia 65.5 67
139 142 Kuwait City Kuwait 65 64
140 124 Caracas Venezuela 64.5 71.5
140 136 Guatelmala City Guatemala 64.5 67
140 141 Lusaka Zambia 64.5 65
140 144 Guangzhou China 64.5 62.5
144 143 Medellin Colombia 62.5 63
144 144 Nanjing China 62.5 62.5
146 146 Santa Cruz Bolivia 62 62
147 146 Nairobi Kenya 61.5 62
147 149 Riyadh Saudi Arabia 61.5 61.5
149 150 Ho Chi Minh City Vietnam 61 61
150 153 Accra Ghana 60.5 60
150 156 Jeddah Saudi Arabia 60.5 59.5
152 146 Libreville Gabon 60 62
152 153 Dakar Senegal 60 60
152 153 Kiev Ukraine 60 60
155 156 Beirut Lebanon 59.5 59.5
156 158 St. Petersburg Russia 59 59
156 160 Hanoi Vietnam 59 58
156 160 Bombay India 59 58
159 150 Moscow Russia 58 61
159 162 Shenyang China 58 57.5
159 170 Bangalore India 58 54
162 150 Islamabad Pakistan 57.5 61
162 165 Skopje Macedonia 57.5 55.5
162 177 New Delhi India 57.5 51.5
165 175 Madras India 56 52
166 162 Vientiane Laos 55.5 57.5
167 165 Damascus Syria 55 55.5
167 169 Tehran Iran 55 54.5
167 172 Jilin China 55 53.5
170 172 Managua Nicaragua 54.5 53.5
171 168 Cotonou Benin 53.5 55
171 172 Djibouti Djibouti 53.5 53.5
173 159 Abidjan Ivory Coast 53 58.5
173 165 San Salvador El Salvador 53 55.5
175 164 Karachi Pakistan 52.5 56
175 177 Tirana Albania 52.5 51.5
177 170 Lahore Pakistan 52 54
178 179 Yangon Myanmar 51.5 51
179 181 Sarajevo Bosnia-Herzegovina 51 49.5
179 193 Belgrade Serbia and Montenegro 51 45
181 175 Algiers Algeria 50.5 52
181 183 San Pedro Sula Honduras 50.5 49
183 180 Minsk Belarus 50 50
183 181 Tripoli Libya 50 49.5
183 185 Novosibirsk Russia 50 48.5
186 183 Yaounde Cameroon 49 49
186 187 Kazan Russia 49 48
188 185 Douala Cameroon 48.5 48.5
189 187 Havana Cuba 48 48
190 189 Almaty Kazaksthan 47.5 47.5
191 190 Dar es Salaam Tanzania 47 47
192 192 Dacca Bangladesh 46 46
193 191 Port au Prince Haiti 45.5 46.5
194 194 Lome Togo 44.5 44.5
195 196 Baku Azerbaijan 44 43.5
195 199 Addis Ababa Ethiopia 44 43
197 195 Lagos Nigeria 43.5 44
197 196 Maputo Mozambique 43.5 43.5
197 196 Tashkent Uzbekisthan 43.5 43.5
200 201 Port Harcourt Nigeria 41.5 42
201 203 Conakry Guinea 41 41
202 199 Antananarivo Madagascar 40 42.5
202 205 Niamey Niger 40 39.5
202 206 Bamako Mali 40 38.5
202 206 Kinshasa Democratic Republic of the Congo 40 38.5
206 202 Nouakchott Mauritania 39 41.5
206 206 Luanda Angola 39 38.5
208 204 Sanaa Yemen 38.5 40
208 210 N'djamena Chad 38.5 37.5
210 209 Ouagadougou Burkina Faso 38 38
211 213 Khartoum Sudan 33.5 31.5
212 212 Pointe Noire Congo 32.5 32.5
213 211 Baghdad Iraq 30.5 33
214 214 Bangui Central African Republic 30 29
215 215 Brazzaville Congo 28.5 27.5
Source: Mercer Human Resource Consulting
New York = 100
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