Utopias

  Zurich, Geneva Have Best Quality of Living; Baghdad Last

Zurich, the financial capital of Switzerland, and Geneva, its private banking center, have the highest quality of living in a ranking of 215 cities worldwide. Baghdad was named the least livable city.

Vancouver ranked No. 3 in the survey, which was published today by Mercer Human Resource Consulting, a unit of insurer Marsh & McLennan Cos. Honolulu was the highest-ranked U.S. city at No. 27. The survey looked at 39 criteria for quality of living, including personal safety and health, education, transport, political and environmental factors.

Cities in Canada, Europe and Australia dominated the rankings, Mercer said, with almost half of the top 30 cities located in Western Europe. Paris stayed in 33rd place and London held 39th. New York and Tokyo both slid down one rank, to 46th and 35th respectively.

               I am surprised Las Vegas didn't make the list.

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Zurich, Geneva Have Highest Quality of Living; Baghdad Is Last

By Randy Hackley

Zurich, the financial capital of Switzerland, and Geneva, its private banking center, have the highest quality of living in a ranking of 215 cities worldwide. Baghdad was named the least livable city. Vancouver ranked No. 3 in the survey, which was published today by Mercer Human Resource Consulting, a unit of insurer Marsh & McLennan Cos. Honolulu was the highest-ranked U.S. city at No. 27. The survey looked at 39 criteria for quality of living, including personal safety and health, education, transport, political and environmental factors. Zurich, the home of UBS AG, Europe's biggest bank by assets, is ``the world's top city for quality of life,'' Mercer said in the report. Baghdad was ``the least attractive city for a third consecutive year.'' Cities in Canada, Europe and Australia dominated the rankings, Mercer said, with almost half of the top 30 cities located in Western Europe. Paris stayed in 33rd place and London held 39th. New York and Tokyo both slid down one rank, to 46th and 35th respectively. Auckland made the biggest gain in the top 10 rankings, to No. 5 from No. 8 a year ago, and its New Zealand counterpart Wellington advanced to 12th from 14th a year ago. Melbourne dropped 3 positions to 17th. In Asia, Singapore rose one to 34th. The top-ranked Chinese city was Shanghai at 103rd place, Mercer said. ``Beijing and Shanghai are on the rise and should experience rapid improvements in quality of living in the coming years,'' Slagin Parakatil, a senior researcher at Mercer, said in the survey. Following is a table of cities with the world's highest quality of living, according to the study by Mercer Human Resource Consulting. The previous year's position is in parenthesis:

1. Zurich, Switzerland (1) 2. Geneva, Switzerland (2) 3. Vancouver, Canada (3) 4. Vienna, Austria (3) 5. Auckland, New Zealand (8) 6. Dusseldorf, Germany (5) 7. Frankfurt, Germany (6) 8. Munich, Germany (7) 9. Bern, Switzerland (9) 9. Sydney, Australia (9) 11. Copenhagen, Denmark (11) 12. Wellington, New Zealand (14) 13. Amsterdam, Netherlands (12) 14. Brussels, Belgium (13) 15. Toronto, Canada (16) 16. Berlin, Germany (16) 17. Melbourne, Australia (14) 18. Luxembourg, Luxembourg (18) 18. Ottawa, Canada (21) 20. Stockholm, Sweden (19) 21. Perth, Australia (20) 22. Montreal, Canada (22) 23. Nuremberg, Germany (22) 24. Dublin, Ireland (22) 25. Calgary, Canada (25) 26. Hamburg, Germany (25) 27. Honolulu, HI (25) 28. San Francisco, CA (28) 29. Adelaide, Australia (29) 29. Helsinki, Finland (29) 31. Brisbane, Australia (31) 31. Oslo, Norway (32) 33. Paris, France (33) 34. Singapore, Singapore (35) 35. Tokyo, Japan (34) 36. Boston, MA (36) 37. Lyon, France (37) 37. Yokohama, Japan (37) 39. London, UK (39) 40. Kobe, Japan (40) 41. Washington, DC (41) 41. Chicago, IL (52) 43. Portland, OR (42) 44. Barcelona, Spain (43) 45. Madrid, Spain (44) 46. New York City, NY (45) 47. Seattle, WA (46) 48. Lexington, KY (47) 49. Pittsburgh, PA (48) 49. Winston Salem, NC (48) 51. Osaka, Japan (50) 51. Milan, Italy (51) Link

Comments

[betsy]

test

[mdmhvonpa]

Paris at 33, I guess that was Pre-Riot. I wonder whay Detroit isnt in the running ... And why is DC.

[Phoenix]

Where's Darfur, Sudan? Nice and sunny there.

Yeah, why is DC on this list?

Winston-Salem, NC ?? Wow.

New Orleans. Great cheap housing.

[Mouse]

Wow! I've lived in 4 of those cities. I must be going downhill, because I'm nowhere on that list now. Las Vegas didn't make it cause the Odds were too great!