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Friday, June 12, 2009

Zürich : the most liveable city in the world

Assessing quality of life is a difficult business and, as a result, surveys on the subject throw up different results.

The Economist Intelligence Unit’s liveability ranking, released this past Monday, put Vancouver, Canada, in the top spot out of 140 world cities, followed by Vienna .

Canada, Australia and Switzerland dominated the rest of the top 10, with Melbourne in third place, Toronto in fourth, Calgary and Perth tied for fifth/sixth, Geneva in eighth and Zürich and Sydney tied for ninth/10th. Helsinki was seventh, while London was 51st, behind Manchester at 46th. Asia’s best city was Osaka, Japan, at 13th, while the top US spot was Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania at 29th.

Mercer’s quality of living survey, released in April and covering 215 cities, was led by Vienna, followed by Zürich, Geneva, Vancouver and Auckland. Singapore was the most liveable Asian locale in 26th place, Honolulu was best in the US at 29th and London was the highest UK scorer at 38th.

There are similarities between these lists and Monocle’s and the reason is simple. According to Jon Copestake, editor of the EIU report, cities that score best tend to be mid-sized, in developed countries, offering culture and recreation but without the crime or infrastructure problems seen in places with larger populations.

The most ‘liveable’

2009

2008

1

4

Zürich

2

1

Copenhagen

3

-

Tokyo

4

2

Munich

5

-

Helsinki

6

7

Stockholm

7

6

Vienna

8

10

Paris

9

-

Melbourne

10

14

Berlin

11

12

Honolulu

12

13

Madrid

13

11

Sydney

14

8

Vancouver

15

-

Barcelona

16

17

Fukuoka

17

-

Oslo

18

22

Singapore

19

16

Montreal

20

-

Auckland

21

18

Amsterdam

22

20

Kyoto

23

21

Hamburg

24

23

Geneva

25

25

Lisbon

*First time on list: Oslo and Auckland
Dropped off: Minneapolis and Portland
Source: Monocle


 

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