General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forums2011 QUALITY OF LIVING WORLDWIDE CITY RANKINGS
Mercer hardship allowance recommendations
Mercer evaluates local living conditions in all the 420 cities it surveys worldwide. Living conditions are analysed according to 39 factors, grouped in 10 categories:
1) Political and social environment (political stability, crime, law enforcement, etc)
2) Economic environment (currency exchange regulations, banking services, etc)
3) Socio-cultural environment (censorship, limitations on personal freedom, etc)
4) Health and sanitation (medical supplies and services, infectious diseases, sewage, waste disposal, air pollution, etc)
5) Schools and education (standard and availability of international schools, etc)
6) Public services and transportation (electricity, water, public transport, traffic congestion, etc)
7) Recreation (restaurants, theatres, cinemas, sports and leisure, etc)
8) Consumer goods (availability of food/daily consumption items, cars, etc)
9) Housing (housing, household appliances, furniture, maintenance services, etc)
10) Natural environment (climate, record of natural disasters)
City Rankings
Mercer Quality of Living Survey - Worldwide Rankings, 2011
Rank City Country
1 Vienna Austria
2 Zurich Switzerland
3 Auckland New Zealand
4
Munich
Germany
5
Düsseldorf
Germany
5
Vancouver
Canada
7 Frankfurt Germany
8 Geneva Switzerland
9 Bern Switzerland
9 Copenhagen Denmark
11 Sydney Australia
12 Amsterdam Netherlands
13 Wellington New Zealand
14 Ottawa Canada
15 Toronto Canada
16 Hamburg Germany
17 Berlin Germany
18 Melbourne Australia
19 Luxembourg Luxembourg
20 Stockholm Sweden
21 Perth Australia
22 Brussels Belgium
22 Montreal Canada
24 Nurnberg Germany
25 Singapore Singapore
26 Canberra Australia
26 Dublin Ireland
28 Stuttgart Germany
29 Honolulu, HI United States
30 Adelaide Australia
Personal Safety Ranking,
Rank City Country
1 Luxembourg Luxembourg
2 Bern Switzerland
2 Helsinki Finland
2 Zurich Switzerland
5 Vienna Austria
6 Geneva Switzerland
6 Stockholm Sweden
8 Singapore Singapore
9 Auckland New Zealand
9 Wellington New Zealand
11 Copenhagen Denmark
11 Düsseldorf Germany
11 Frankfurt Germany
11 Munich Germany
11 Nurnberg Germany
16 Dublin Ireland
17 Amsterdam Netherlands
17 Calgary Canada
17 Montreal Canada
17 Ottawa Canada
17 Toronto Canada
17 Vancouver Canada
23 Abu Dhabi United Arab Emirates
24 Oslo Norway
25 Canberra Australia
25 Melbourne Australia
25 Perth Australia
25 Sydney Australia
29 Muscat Oman
30 Ljubljana Slovenia
31 Kobe Japan
31 Nagoya Japan
http://www.mercer.com/qualityoflivingpr#city-rankings
Warren Stupidity
(48,181 posts)zeemike
(18,998 posts)At sucking...
Carolina
(6,960 posts)So much for the "we are the greatest" crowd.
Seems the US is a "has been, once was" in everything that matters to people, but #1 in death, destruction and war.
BeyondGeography
(39,226 posts)KurtNYC
(14,549 posts)and it's very safe.
onehandle
(51,122 posts)Shadowflash
(1,536 posts)I'm sure someone will come up with some excuse.
pampango
(24,692 posts)chervilant
(8,267 posts)not even close.
Spazito
(49,523 posts)From 2007:
Number of guns per 100 residents in Canada....30.8 Ranking...13
Number of guns per 100 residents in the U.S....88.8 Ranking....1
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Number_of_guns_per_capita_by_country
neeksgeek
(1,214 posts)Or do they?
a la izquierda
(11,782 posts)several on the list next summer, during my first ever trip to Europe! Yippee! I can show this list to my mother and assure her I'll be fine doing this trip by myself (I'm 35 and lived in Mexico, but she's afraid of me going to Europe alone).
Ichingcarpenter
(36,988 posts)with a companion..
other than that its extremely safe.
a la izquierda
(11,782 posts)I've been groped on the metro in Mexico City, so I'm pretty good with my immediate bodily surroundings But I know when I'm in certain places I'll have to be more vigilant.
Thanks for the tip.
slackmaster
(60,567 posts)What a coincidence!
Doctor_J
(36,392 posts)the gun culture keeps telling us how we're "safer than we've ever been", yet no US cities are seen among the top in personal safety. Even Slovenia is safer than any american city.
I say we export our SYG laws to the world, get them to our level of "freedom"
Diclotican
(5,095 posts)Doctor_J
No thank you - we do not need any "Stand your grand" laws in our corner of the world thank you... It is silly enough as i is, being in the US - to export it would make travesty to everything law bidding in our world... It exist other things in the US to export - like say Bieber and CO (even though he is a canadian by birth) or so one...
Diclotican
MadHound
(34,179 posts)Thanks, but no thanks. I'll be staying out here in the country, with the silence, the clean air, and all the wild animals.
DCKit
(18,541 posts)Or vice-versa.
Seriously, I was out in the Alleghenies in Western VA a couple of weeks ago, and the S.O. noticed one of the old apple trees shaking without any wind.
After watching in amusement for a few, we realized that something big was crawling around in there, and a couple of hand-claps later, a young bear (maybe 120#) came sliding down the trunk and ran off into the woods. It was a hoot.
While I know many of the natives, I've yet to meet anyone from "Deliverance", but let's not tell anyone.
Reynalda Loftus
(2 posts)Mira
(22,378 posts)when a 50 year old American woman stood in front of a world map that is taped to my kitchen door. She asked me to show her AMERICA. I did.
She looked at me, then at the map, back at me and asked "When did we get so small? Was it always like this? I thought we were number One."
I mentally picked myself off the floor hoping she could not see my distress, and told her in the simplest words possible that the size has always been the same, that we have not been number one in much of anything in a long time, and to get there again, she needs to vote for all Democrats at all time. That they were the ones that had brought us any of the things that have made life better for the people.
Since she respects me, I think I helped a bit, and I always call her now and make sure she goes and votes.
12AngryBorneoWildmen
(536 posts)LittleGirl
(8,247 posts)I lived in Europe and agree with their ratings.
tk2kewl
(18,133 posts)maybe we need more concealed weapons
denvine
(795 posts)You have succeeded in lowering our expectations, beating us into submission and turning a large part of the country into moronic followers. But, hopefully one day, there will be a change in attitude, or maybe a revolution of sorts. We will once again start taking care of each other, making decisions on what is best for the country as opposed as to what is better for me. Hopefully, we will once again start thinking about long term investment for the future as opposed to immediate gratification. Until that happens, if we let the corporations, NRA, Wall St. and the Republicans continue to rule the roost, we will have to settle for our continuing degradation.
We have to re-elect President Obama and get more democrats in office. They may not be perfect, but they are definitely better than the alternative.
GeorgeGist
(25,293 posts)Brigid
(17,621 posts)Amazing.
patrice
(47,992 posts)The land of my ancestors. I hope to visit again sometime maybe . . . if the dollar ever recovers.
SDjack
(1,448 posts)all western industrialized countries.
moondust
(19,896 posts)They've been through a lot of Hell along the way but apparently learned the hard lessons well.