What makes a city ‘liveable’ for you?
Is it good transport links, cleanliness, the availability of good healthcare?
UK consulting firm Mercer think they have the answer, and have ranked over 450 cities in terms of liveability.
Based on things like housing, political stability, medical consideration, schools and recreation, hundreds of cities from across the globe were ranked in the annual list, and the results might surprise you.
While the bright lights of Europe contributed several cities to the top ten, including the overall winner: Vienna, Austria, New Zealand’s Auckland made was the highest ranked non-European city in the list.
Here are the top 10:
Vienna, Austria
Zurich, Switzerland
Auckland, New Zealand
Munich, Germany
Vancouver, Canada
Dusseldorf, Germany
Frankfurt, Germany
Geneva, Switzerland
Copenhagen, Denmark
Basel, Switzerland and Sydney, Australia (tied)
And while Auckland certainly has its problems (shortage of housing, terrible traffic, bad public transport links) it seems even those factors weren’t enough to demote it from the top three.
London, the choice of many Kiwis for their O.E., came in at 40th on the list overall, but was in the top 6 for infrastructure, just behind Hong Kong.
“By and large, cities in Oceania enjoy good quality of living,” the study reads. “Though criteria such as airport connectivity and traffic congestion are among the factors that see them ranked lower in terms of city infrastructure.”
Via region, these are the most liveable cities:
North America: Vancouver, Canada
Europe: Vienna, Austria
Middle East & Africa: Dubai, UAE
Asia: Singapore
Pacific: Auckland, New Zealand
