Dubai is constantly mentioned as one of the most attractive cities for expatriates in the world, but it turns out it may not be the best choice of a new place for a fresh, start. In a new survey Dubai quality of living ranked 74th in the world, while the best conditions for expats remain in Vienna, as well as in most of Europe.
European cities continue to dominate in this year’s Quality of Living Worldwide City Rankings, with the picturesque Austrian capital topping the list for five consecutive years. It is followed by Switzerland’s Zurich, Auckland in New Zealand, Munich in Germany and Vancouver in Canada. The survey, conducted by American human resource and financial consulting firm Mercer, analyzes the living conditions in a total of 440 cities around the world.
Researchers looked at 39 factors such as political stability, crime, media censorship, medical supplies and services, and availability of international schools and public transportation. Other key categories analyzed are housing, consumer goods, recreation, economic environment, and natural environment.
Top 10 Cities in 2015 Quality of Living Rankings
- Vienna
Zurich
Auckland
Munich
Vancouver
Dusseldorf
Frankfurt
Geneva
Copenhagen
Sydney
The ranking is intended to help global companies and employers to fairly compensate employees with well-calculated expatriate allowances, as it also offers comparison between various cities. However, it also shows the objective living conditions in different destinations, so we could see where life is considerably better. In Dubai, according to the survey, expats are offered the best conditions in the Middle East and Africa region. But compared to the world, the modern emirate is in 74th position and it’s followed closely by Abu Dhabi on 77th place. Mauritius’s capital Port Louis, South Africa’s Durban and Cape Town round up the top 5 cities in the region.
Interestingly, no U.S. city is featured in the top 20 of the ranking, with Vancouver, Toronto, Ottawa, and Montreal ranked best in North America, followed by San Francisco, which is 27th in the world. And South America is the region with the lowest ranking cities this year, with Uruguay’s capital city of Montevideo highest in the region and 78th in the world. And if you look a nice place to relocate in Asia, your best chances of finding good living conditions are in Singapore (No.26), followed by Tokyo, Kobe, Yokohama, and Osaka.
Meanwhile, in the bottom of the ranking this year are Nouakchott in Mauritania, Conakry in Guinea Republic, Kinshasa in Democratic Republic of Congo, Brazzaville in Congo, Sana’a in Yemen, N’Djamena in Chad, Khartoum in Sudan, Port-au-Prince in Haiti, Bangui in the Central African Republic, and Iraq’s Baghdad.
