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Vienna is the world’s best city to live in; Baghdad is the worst, and London, Paris and New York do not even make it into the top 35, according to international research into quality of life.
German-speaking cities dominate the rankings in the 18th Mercer Quality of Life study, with Vienna joined by Zurich, Munich, Düsseldorf and Frankfurt in the top seven.
Paris has tumbled down the league, falling 10 places to 37th, just ahead of London at 39th, almost entirely because of the city’s vulnerability to terrorist attacks.
US cities perform relatively poorly in the study, largely because of issues around personal safety and crime. The highest ranking city in the US is San Francisco, at 28th; Boston is 34th. Canadian cities, led by Toronto, far outrank their US rivals in the table.
Armenia’s capital Yerevan is ranked 182nd among 230 cities. The list includes two Russian cities –Moscow and Saint Petersburg, ranked 167th and 174th respectively. Georgia’s capital Tbilisi is 188th, Azerbaijan’s Baku is placed 197th. Istanbul (122nd) is the only Turkish city included in the ranking.
The capital cities of Armenia’s partners in the Eurasian Economic Union are placed as follows: Minsk – 190th, Almaty – 176th, Bishkek – 210th.
The study examined social and economic conditions, health, education, housing and the environment, and is used by big companies to assess where they should locate and how much they should pay staff.
