Zurich’s quality of life is regarded by expats as the second highest in the world. Only Vienna ranked higher in the Quality of Living survey conducted by the international consulting firm Mercer. The top five was rounded off by Auckland, Munich and Vancouver. In addition to Zurich, two other cities made it into the top ten with Geneva (8th) and Basel (10th). Bern came in 14th place.
This year’s ranking of 231 cities analyses and compares living conditions according to 39 factors, such as political and social environment, economic conditions, and natural environment. Factors like health and education are also taken into consideration.
Particular importance is given to city infrastructure, which was ranked separately this year. Factors here include a city’s telephone and mail services, public transportation and proximity to an international airport. Singapore tops the infrastructure ranking, Zurich and Vancouver tied for 9th place.
The annual survey is conducted to enable multinational companies and other organisations compare different cities when looking at where to place employees for international assignments.
