Mercer Quality of Living Index 2009

Mercer Consulting, the leading human resource and compensation consulting firm, has annouced 2009 Quality of Living Index.

Mercer has analyzed 420 cities worldwide and indexed each cities and used New York City as bench mark (100).

Its methodology is:

- Political and Social environment
- Economy environment
- Cultural environment
- Health and Cleanness
- Educational environment
- Infrastructure
- Recreation
- Consumer goods avaiablity
- Living environment
- Natural environment

Because of it, this index has the following tendancies (in my opinion).

1) Mid sized cities does better than large cities.
2) "Cold" weather places tend to do better.
3) Non-American cities with lots of expats tend to do better.
4) English speaking cities tend to do better.
5) After all, it is ranking for expats with family -- not for everyone.

Here is the ranking of Top 50 cities.

- European (especially in Switzerland and Germany) and Canadian cities dominate top 20 cities.

- Top 5 in USA is Honolulu, San Francisco, Boston, Portland and Washington DC.

- While it is not listed in below ranking, the worst city is Baghdad with 14. If you are sent to Baghdad, make sure that you demand at least 6 times of your current salary for your "hardship"!

Mercer Quality of Living Survey - Worldwide Rankings, 2009
Base City: New York, USA (=100)
Rank	Rank	City	Country	QoL Index 2009	QoL Index 2008
2009	2008
1	2	Vienna	Austria	108.6	107.9
2	1	Zurich	Switzerland	108.0	108.0
3	2	Geneva	Switzerland	107.9	107.9
4	4	Vancouver	Canada	107.4	107.6
4	5	Auckland	New Zealand	107.4	107.3
6	6	Dusseldorf	Germany	107.2	107.2
7	7	Munich	Germany	107.0	107.0
8	7	Frankfurt	Germany	106.8	107.0
9	9	Bern	Switzerland	106.5	106.5
10	10	Sydney	Australia	106.3	106.3
11	11	Copenhagen	Denmark	106.2	106.2
12	12	Wellington	New Zealand	105.9	105.8
13	13	Amsterdam	Netherlands	105.7	105.7
14	14	Brussels	Belgium	105.4	105.4
15	15	Toronto	Canada	105.3	105.3
16	19	Ottawa	Canada	105.0	104.7
16	16	Berlin	Germany	105.0	105.0
18	17	Melbourne	Australia	104.8	104.8
19	17	Luxembourg	Luxembourg	104.6	104.8
20	20	Stockholm	Sweden	104.5	104.5
21	21	Perth	Australia	104.3	104.3
22	22	Montreal	Canada	104.2	104.2
23	23	Nurnberg	Germany	104.1	104.1
24	24	Oslo	Norway	103.7	103.7
25	25	Dublin	Ireland	103.6	103.5
26	32	Singapore	Singapore	103.5	102.9
26	25	Calgary	Canada	103.5	103.5
28	27	Hamburg	Germany	103.4	103.4
29	28	Honolulu	United States	103.1	103.1
30	29	San Francisco	United States	103.0	103.0
30	29	Helsinki	Finland	103.0	103.0
30	29	Adelaide	Australia	103.0	103.0
33	32	Paris	France	102.9	102.9
34	34	Brisbane	Australia	102.4	102.4
35	35	Tokyo	Japan	102.2	102.2
35	37	Boston	United States	102.2	101.8
37	36	Lyon	France	101.9	101.9
38	38	Yokohama	Japan	101.6	101.6
38	38	London	United Kingdom	101.6	101.6
40	40	Kobe	Japan	100.9	100.9
41	41	Milan	Italy	100.8	100.8
42	48	Portland	United States	100.6	100.2
42	42	Barcelona	Spain	100.6	100.6
44	44	Washington	United States	100.3	100.3
44	44	Osaka	Japan	100.3	100.3
44	44	Lisbon	Portugal	100.3	100.3
44	44	Chicago	United States	100.3	100.3
48	43	Madrid	Spain	100.2	100.5
49	49	New York City	United States	100.0	100.0
50	50	Seattle	United States	99.8	99.8

For your reference, below is Top 5 Cities by the regions.

Top 5 cities - Americas
- Vancouver, Canada (tied 4th)
- Toronto, Canada (15th)
- Ottawa, Canada (16th)
- Montreal, Canada (22nd)
- Calgary, Canada (26th)

Top 5 cities - Asia Pacific
- Auckland, New Zealand (tied 4th)
- Sydney, Australia (10th)
- Wellington, New Zealand (12th)
- Melbourne, Australia (18th)
- Perth, Australia (21st)

Top 5 cities - Europe
- Vienna, Austria ( 1st)
- Zurich, Switzerland (2nd)
- Geneva, Switzerland (3rd)
- Dusseldorf, Germany (6th)
- Munich, Germany (7th)

Top 5 cities - Middle East & Africa
- Dubai, United Arab Emirates (77th)
- Port Louis, Mauritius (82nd)
- Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (84th)
- Cape Town, South Africa (87th)
- Port Elizabeth, South Africa (93rd)

While this is index does not have direct relationship with real estate price, it is good data to know. This index also indicate that, if you want to balance work and life, it is your best bet to get out of mega cities like New York, Tokyo or London and settle at mid-size cities.

Happy Investing!!!!