The ranking of cities in the world with the highest quality of life is once again led by Zurich

Prague - The city with the highest quality of life in the world for the past year was once again Zurich, followed closely by Geneva in second place and Vancouver in third. This was determined by this year's edition of the annual report published today by Mercer Human Resource Consulting. Prague has also improved its position, ranking 73rd out of a total of 215 cities. Baghdad ended up in the last place.
The quality of life index, compiled based on data from September to November 2005, uses New York as the reference city with a value set at 100 points. Life is better than in New York in 45 cities. The top ten consists mainly of European cities, and outside Europe, in addition to Vancouver, also includes Auckland in New Zealand and Sydney in Australia.
The first four cities, namely Zurich, Geneva, Vancouver, and Vienna, have improved their overall scores compared to last year. All have more than 107 points, with Zurich scoring 108.2 points. One of the most noticeable climbers is Chicago, which moved up 11 places to 41st. Such a significant improvement is attributed to a decline in crime rates, according to the report.
Alongside Prague, the positions of Budapest (74), Ljubljana (80), Vilnius (84), Warsaw (86), and Tallinn (91) have also improved compared to the previous year. "The standard of living in many Eastern European cities is gradually increasing because countries that recently became members of the European Union are attracting more investments," said Mercer researcher Slagin Parakatil. He notes, however, that cities such as Dubai remain more attractive to foreign workers than those in Eastern Europe.
Mercer measures the quality of life based on 39 aspects, summarized into ten main criteria. These include the quality and availability of consumer goods, the economic environment, housing, healthcare quality, natural environment, political and social climate, public services and transportation, recreation, education, and the socio-cultural environment.
The ranking of most cities in Europe and the Middle East has not changed, with Cairo being the only exception. It dropped nine places to 131st, with an index value of 71.2 points. According to Mercer, the main reasons are increased concerns about the political situation and terrorist attacks.
Among American cities, Honolulu performed the best, ranking 27th, while the last in the USA is Houston at 68th. American cities as a whole tend to experience slight declines in ratings or remain stable. "Fluctuations in the quality of life in developed countries are usually determined by factors such as higher air pollution or increased crime rates, along with external factors like terrorism and natural disasters," said Parakatil.
In Asia, Singapore received the highest rating, closely followed by Tokyo. In China, the city with the highest quality of life is Shanghai, which overall ranked only 103rd. "Beijing and Shanghai are on the rise and should see significant improvements in the quality of life in the coming years," stated Mercer. The main reason is the high influx of foreign investments.
The greatest differences are observed in South America, where the quality of life in individual cities is primarily determined by political and economic stability. According to Mercer, the biggest improvements can be expected in Argentine cities in the coming years, as the country’s economy gradually improves and erases the effects of the state bankruptcy four years ago.

Table: Cities with the highest quality of life index

Rank	City	Country	Index
1.	Zurich	Switzerland	108.2
2.	Geneva	Switzerland	108.1
3.	Vancouver	Canada	107.7
4.	Vienna	Austria	107.5
5.	Auckland	New Zealand	107.3
6.	Düsseldorf	Germany	107.2
7.	Frankfurt	Germany	107.0
8.	Munich	Germany	106.8
9.	Bern	Switzerland	106.5
10.	Sydney	Australia	106.5