INTERNATIONAL REWARD
New worldwide quality of living survey 2002
HR consultancy William M Mercer has published a new survey to help multinational companies assess international hardship allowances for their expatriate workers.
According to the figures gathered by Mercer, Zurich has the best "quality of life", with 106.5 points. Last year's top scoring city, Vancouver, slipped to joint second place with Vienna, with a rating of 106 points.
Cities in Europe, Australia and New Zealand continue to dominate the top of the table.
Lowest ranked cities
Meanwhile, the world's least appealing city remains Brazzaville in Congo. Other poor-scoring cities for overall quality of life include Bangui in the Central African Republic, Khartoum in Sudan and Pointe Noire in Congo.
| EU capital city rankings for overall quality of life | |||
| EU ranking | World ranking | City | Index |
| 1 | 2 | Vienna, Austria | 106.5 |
| 2 | 6 | Copenhagen, Denmark | 105 |
| 3 | 6 | Helsinki, Finland | 105 |
| 4 | 12 | Amsterdam, Netherlands | 104 |
| 4 | 12 | Stockholm, Sweden | 104 |
| 6 | 15 | Brussels, Belgium | 103.5 |
| 7 | 18 | Luxembourg | 103 |
| 8 | 22 | Berlin, Germany | 102.5 |
| 9 | 31 | Paris, France | 101.5 |
| 10 | 35 | Dublin, Ireland | 101 |
| 11 | 41 | London, UK | 100 |
| 11 | 41 | Madrid, Spain | 100 |
| 13 | 57 | Lisbon, Portugal | 97.5 |
| 14 | 68 | Rome, Italy | 93.5 |
| 15 | 87 | Athens, Greece | 82.5 |
Note: Amsterdam is included as the main city for the Netherlands.
New York = 100.
Source: William M Mercer.
Want to know more?
Title: Worldwide Quality of Life Survey, published by William M Mercer.
Methodology: This annual survey ranks more than 200 cities using 39 quality of life criteria. These include political, economic, social and environmental factors, together with safety, transport and other public services.
Availability: Individual reports are produced for each city surveyed, but there is no overall summary report available. Further information and copies of the reports are available from client services, Mercer global information services, tel: +41 22 869 3000.
William M Mercer is "the world's largest human resource consultancy", with some 13,000 employees in 138 cities in 40 countries . . . www.wmmercer.com.