In Mercer’s latest Quality of Living Survey Vienna continues its reign in the top spot for overall quality of living, followed by Zurich, Auckland, and Munich. Singapore is the highest ranking Asian city.
Mercer’s Quality of Living survey includes a personal safety ranking based on internal stability, crime levels, performance of local law enforcement, and the home country’s relationship with other countries.
Safety, in particular, is a key consideration for multinational companies when sending expatriate workers abroad, both because it raises concerns about the personal safety of the expat and their family and because it has a significant impact on the cost of global compensation programmes.
Luxembourg tops the personal safety list and is followed by Bern, Helsinki, and Zurich – all tied in 2nd place. Baghdad and Damascus are the world’s least safe cities according to the ranking. All Australian cities are considered safe. Canberra, Sydney, Melbourne, and Perth all tied at 25th in the personal safety ranking.
«Heightened domestic and global security threats, population displacement resulting from violence, and social unrest in key business centres around the world are all elements adding to the complex challenge facing multinational companies when analysing the safety and health of their expatriate workforces,» said Ilya Bonic, Senior Partner and president of Mercer’s Talent business.
Mercer’s authoritative 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.
Singapore Leads Asia-Pacific
The vast region of Asia has considerable variation in quality of living. In 26th place, Singapore remains its highest ranking city, whereas Dhaka is the lowest. Following Singapore in Southeastern Asia is Kuala Lumpur (86). Other key cities include Bangkok (129), Manila (136), and Jakarta (142).
Japanese cities rank highest in Eastern Asia, with Tokyo in 44th place. Other notable cities here are Hong Kong (70), Taipei (84), Shanghai (101), and Beijing (118).
For personal safety, the rankings for Asian cities again vary greatly. Singapore ranks highest overall and is followed by five Japanese cities—Kobe, Nagoya, Osaka, Tokyo, and Yokohama—that are tied for 32nd place.
Following considerable political unrest and terrorist attacks in several tourist areas over the last few years, Bangkok ranked 173rd for personal safety.
Australia and New Zealand
New Zealand and Australia have some of the highest quality of living worldwide. Auckland ranks 3rd globally, Sydney 10th, Wellington 12th, and Melbourne 15th. For personal safety, Pacific cities also rank high, with Auckland and Wellington sharing 9th place. Canberra, Melbourne, Perth, and Sydney share 25th place.
