Auckland and Wellington Best Cities In World To Live

...some time ago.. by kiwibloke · 11 Comments

Vancouver British Columbia and Auckland have tied for 4th place and Wellington scored 12th just after Sydney and Copenhagen in the 2009 Mercer World Quality of Life index.

European cities continue to dominate the rankings in quality of life with Vienna in 1st place followed by Zurich and Geneva respectively. In North America, Toronto follows Vancouver at position 15.

Rank 2009	Rank 2008	City	Country	Index 2009	Index 2008
1	2	VIENNA	AUSTRIA	108.6	107.9
2	1	ZURICH	SWITZERLAND	108	108
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	107
8	7	FRANKFURT	GERMANY	106.8	107
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	104.7
16	16	BERLIN	GERMANY	105	105
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, HI	UNITED STATES	103.1	103.1
30	29	SAN FRANCISCO, CA	UNITED STATES	103	103
30	29	HELSINKI	FINLAND	103	103
30	29	ADELAIDE	AUSTRALIA	103	103
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, MA	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, OR	UNITED STATES	100.6	100.2
42	42	BARCELONA	SPAIN	100.6	100.6
44	44	WASHINGTON, DC	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, IL	UNITED STATES	100.3	100.3
48	43	MADRID	SPAIN	100.2	100.5
49	49	NEW YORK CITY, NY	UNITED STATES	100	100
50	50	SEATTLE, WA	UNITED STATES	99.8	99.8

The Quality of Life index is used by Mercer to provide guidance to employers for determining appropriate incentives and allowances for transferring staff.

Quality of living or hardship allowances are designed to compensate expatriates for differences in the quality of living between their home and host locations. The mobility premium is more intended to compensate for the inconvenience of being uprooted and having to work in another country. The former is typically location-related whilst a mobility premium is usually independent of the host location. A number of major international companies combine these premiums but the vast majority of international companies provide them separately. The latter approach has the advantage of clarity and transparency.

Mercer indicates 39 different factors including political, environmental, social, health, education, recreation and housing. New York is used as the base 100 and all other cities are therefore relative to New York.

Nonetheless the top cities consistently rank highly in many other surveys including best places to visit and stay.

Source: 2009 Mercer Quality of Life Index

Flickr Credits: Wellington: JamieLawrie Auckland: Chris Gin

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Tags: ·auckland, kiwi, mercer quality of life, New Zealand, Wellington

Filed: Kiwi News · Kiwi Stuff · New Zealand Travel

11 responses so far ↓

1 Danut // Apr 28, 2009 at 2:35 pm

OMG i must move to Austria!
Bucharest is nowhere to be seen in this top 50
No wonder with all those high prices

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2 Save // Apr 30, 2009 at 1:02 am

I’ve seen Auckland rate well on other “best of” surveys, so it’s really not too surprising. Haven’t had a chance to visit, but I have friends there who tell me I’d be tempted not to leave.

I’m a little surprised that San Francisco and NYC made the list, though. Not that they’re bad places… just not the kinds of cities that scream “high quality of life”, unless you have tons of cash.

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3 Trent // May 1, 2009 at 10:40 pm

I can say from personal experience that Vancouver is a beautiful city! I could move there in a heartbeat!

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4 kiwibloke // May 1, 2009 at 10:51 pm

I have lived in Wellington, Auckland, Vancouver, Sydney and Toronto and they are all great towns

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5 Proudkiwi // May 31, 2009 at 9:28 am

Im so pleased to see these two great cities! (Auckland and Wellington) as a proud kiwi it is an honour to live in this Beautiful Country.
Go the kiwis! tho i do think Wellington should be ranked higher for i think its the best capital city in the World.

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6 Bowchow // Jun 2, 2009 at 2:40 am

I’m sure Australian cities would have something to say about this. Wellington and Auckland are great cities, but many aussies I know would say that you can find in New Zealand, you could probably find in Australia as well.

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7 Proudkiwi // Jun 2, 2009 at 3:19 am

wow you must be Aussie! but unfortunately the statistics say our cities are better rated in the world! sorry we win this time!! Sydney! and Perth! thats about it in my experience as far as good Aussie cities go!

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8 kiwibloke // Jun 2, 2009 at 8:23 am

@Proudkiwi: Aussie cities are indeed good, it is just kiwi cities are better.

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9 Ricky from taux hypotèque // Jun 16, 2009 at 7:27 am

I have been dreaming to live in NZ all my life, specifically in Auckland. I find it interesting every time I saw the photos of my friends living in Auckland.

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10 Olive // Jun 16, 2009 at 7:47 am

What’s with New Zealand and Australia. It seems like there are rivalries from places to live in and Desserts.

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11 how to sleep better // Mar 3, 2010 at 7:22 am

I have lived in Wellington, Auckland, Vancouver, Sydney and Toronto and they are all great towns

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