February 29, 2016

The World’s Best Cities For Quality of Life In 2016

Do you want to work abroad? If you’re keen to move to a foreign city to pursue a career, you need to see the 2016 Quality of Living Rankings from Mercer. Quality of life is a pretty important factor to consider when you’re planning to go abroad.

Mercer is a global consulting firm that “helps clients around the world advance the health, wealth and careers of their most vital asset – their people.” Every year they produce their quality of living rankings that “assists multi national organizations to compensate employees fairly when placing them on international assignments.”

The Best Cities For Job Seekers In 2016

They compile their data by conducting surveys in over 440 cities worldwide. Each city is scored in 39 factors in 10 different categories. Then each category’s score is weighted to help compare cities objectively. The categories used include:

Political and social environment (political stability, crime, law enforcement, etc.).
Economic environment (currency exchange regulations, banking services).
Socio-cultural environment (media availability and censorship, limitations on personal freedom).
Medical and health considerations (medical supplies and services, infectious diseases, sewage, waste disposal, air pollution, etc.).
Schools and education (standards and availability of international schools).
Public services and transportation (electricity, water, public transportation, traffic congestion, etc.).
Recreation (restaurants, theatres, cinemas, sports and leisure, etc.).
Consumer goods (availability of food/daily consumption items, cars, etc.).
Housing (rental housing, household appliances, furniture, maintenance services).
Natural environment (climate, record of natural disasters).

Let’s take a look at Mercer’s 2016 Quality of Living Rankings:

Top Ten Cities Overall

1 – Vienna, Austria
2 – Zurich, Switzerland
3 – Auckland, New Zealand
4 – Munich, Germany
5 – Vancouver, Canadad
6 – Dusseldorf, Germany
7 -Frankfurt, Germany
8 – Geneva, Switzerland
9 – Copenhagen, Denmark
10 – Sydney, Australia

Bottom Ten Cities Overall

221 – Conarky, Guinea
222 – Kinshasa, DR Congo
223 – Brazzavile, Congo
224 – Damascus, Syria
225 – N’Djamena, Chad
226 – Khartoum, Sudan
227 – Port-au-Prince, Haite
228 – Sana’a, Yemen
229 – Bangui, Central African Republica
230 – Baghdad, Iraq

Then Mercer took the results and provided the top five cities for each of the seven regions of the globe. The number next to the city is its overall ranking:

North America

5 – Vancouver, Canada
15 – Toronto, Canada
17 – Ottawa, Canada
23 – Montreal, Canada
28 – San Francisco, USA

South America

78 – Montevideo, Uruguay
93 – Buenos Aires, Argentina
94 – Santiago, Chile
106 – Brasilia, Brazil
114 – Asuncion, Paraguay

Western Europe

1 – Vienna, Austria
2 – Zurich, Switzerland
4 – Munich, Germany
6 – Dusseldorf, Germany
7 – Frankfurt, Germany

Central & Eastern Europe

69 – Prague, Czech Republic
76 – Ljubljana, Slovenia
77 – Budapest, Hungary
79 – Vilnius, Lithuania
79 – Warsaw, Poland

Middle East and Africa

75 – Dubai, UAE
81 – Abu Dhabi, UAE
83 – Port Louis, Maurtitus
85 – Durban, South Africa
92 – Cape Town, South Africa

Asia

26 – Singapore
44 – Tokyo, Japan
46 – Kobe, Japan
49 – Yokohama, Japan
58 – Osaka, Japan

Pacific

3 – Auckland, New Zealand
10 – Sydney, Australia
12 – Wellington, New Zealand
15 – Melbourne, Australia
21 – Perth, Australia

Visit Mercer to learn more about the study that ranks the best cities for quality of life. Hopefully this list will help you determine where you may want to work abroad. You can also find out where your dream city ranked. You might be surprised!

The Best Places To Live Abroad

Once you determine where you want to live, visit the JobMonkey JobCenter to search and apply for jobs by location.