If you want to live in a healthy, prosperous and safe city, you should probably look outside the United States, according to the Mercer 2016 Quality of Living City Rankings. Mercer, one of the world’s largest HR consultancy firms, takes into account the following:
Looking at 450 cities across the world, Mercer takes into account the following metrics to judge which cities made the list for the best quality of life:
- Political and social environment (political stability, crime, law enforcement)
- Economic environment (currency-exchange regulations, banking services)
- Socio-cultural environment (media availability and censorship, limitations on personal freedom)
- Medical and health considerations (medical supplies and services, infectious diseases, sewage, waste disposal, air pollution)
- Schools and education (standards and availability of international schools)
- Public services and transportation (electricity, water, public transportation, traffic congestion)
- Recreation (restaurants, theatres, cinemas, sports and leisure)
- Consumer goods (availability of food/daily consumption items, cars)
- Housing (rental housing, household appliances, furniture, maintenance services)
- Natural environment (climate, record of natural disasters)
Who is number one?
No, not New York City. Vienna, Austria.
And number two?
No, not Los Angeles. Zurich, Switzerland.
Number three?
Chicago, right? Right? No. Auckland, New Zealand.
You can read the list of the top 23 here, but there’s a disturbing trend — for Americans, at least — and that is that not a single city in the United States ranks as a top city.
The top cities are all in Canada, Europe or Oceania (Australia and New Zealand).
The United States of America can do so much better. But only if we elect a leader who believes the United States is capable of transforming itself into a more humane and prosperous country — with cities reflecting that reality.