INTERNATIONAL REWARD
Quality of living survey 2011 - Mercer
Vienna has the best living standard in the world, according to the Mercer 2011 Quality of Living Survey. Zurich and Auckland follow in second and third position, respectively, with Munich in fourth.
European cities represent over half the cities amongst the top 25 in the ranking. London (38) is the highest-ranking UK city and is followed by Birmingham (52), Aberdeen (54) and Glasgow (56). Belfast (63) is the lowest scoring of the UK cities that Mercer surveys.
Globally, the cities with the lowest quality of living are N’Djamena, Chad (219), Bangui, Central African Republic (220) and Baghdad, Iraq (221), which ranks last in Mercer’s table.
Mercer conducts the survey to help governments and multi-national companies compensate employees fairly when placing them on international assignments.
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Personal safety rankings
This year, the survey separately identifies those cities with the highest personal safety ranking based on internal stability, crime levels, law enforcement effectiveness and the host country’s international relations. Luxembourg tops this personal safety league table, followed by Bern, Helsinki and Zurich – all ranked at number two. Vienna ranks fifth, while Geneva and Stockholm both come in sixth.
Slagin Parakatil, Senior Researcher at Mercer, said: “Companies need to keep on top of current developments to ensure that their compensation packages remain competitive and continue to motivate expatriate employees. That means reviewing major events, such as social unrest, economic turmoil or natural disasters and their impact on the success of overseas placements.”
A final word
“The top-ranking cities for personal safety and security are in politically stable countries with good international relations and relatively sustainable economic growth. Most of the low-scoring cities are in countries with, civil unrest, high crime levels and little law enforcement,” - Slagin Parakatil, Senior Researcher at Mercer.
Want to know more?
Title: Quality of Living Survey 2011, Mercer, November 2011.
Survey details: Mercer’s Quality of Living reports provide information and hardship premium recommendations for major cities throughout the world. The data was largely collected between September and November 2011, and is regularly updated to take account of changing circumstances. In particular, the assessments are revised in the case of significant political, economic and environmental developments. Mercer’s index list covers 221 cities, ranked against New York as the base city.
Availability: For details on how to purchase the report, contact Mercer Client Services in Warsaw, on tel. +48 22 434 5383 or visit www.mercer.com/qualityofliving.
Mercer is a “global leader in human resource consulting, outsourcing and investment services”. It works with clients to “solve their most complex benefit and human capital issues by designing, implementing and administering health, retirement and other benefit programmes”. Mercer’s 20,000 employees are based in more than 40 countries. For more information visit www.mercer.com.