Auckland and Wellington Best Cities In World To Live
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:Â JamieLawrie Auckland: Chris Gin
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OMG i must move to Austria!
Bucharest is nowhere to be seen in this top 50
No wonder with all those high prices
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.
I can say from personal experience that Vancouver is a beautiful city! I could move there in a heartbeat!
I have lived in Wellington, Auckland, Vancouver, Sydney and Toronto and they are all great towns
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.
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.
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!
@Proudkiwi: Aussie cities are indeed good, it is just kiwi cities are better.
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.
What’s with New Zealand and Australia. It seems like there are rivalries from places to live in and Desserts.
I have lived in Wellington, Auckland, Vancouver, Sydney and Toronto and they are all great towns
It was interesting to know such information, but to my mind it is not objective – this research of living quality is based on the opinions of one part of people, but it is impossible to ask everybody, so…
Intersting to see Auckland and Wellington up there at the top. Also Lisbon and Madrid make the top 50. Lisbon makes a lot of sense but Madrid? I wonder how this will change in the future. There is definately a lot to be said for adding trees and green spaces and generally spreading out with more gardens and permaculture.