Singapore has been ranked as the best in Asia and 25th globally for its quality of living in a new report.
Interestingly the city-state’s position in Asia and globally has remained the same since last year’s report.
The annual Mercer Quality of Living report, published today, helps multinational companies and other employers compensate employees fairly when placing them on international assignments.
Vienna was revealed as the city with the world’s best quality of living, according to the rankings of 223 cities globally. Zurich and Auckland follow in second and third place respectively, while Munich is in fourth place, followed by Vancouver, which is also the highest-ranking city in North America.
Ranking 25th globally, Singapore is the highest-ranking Asian city, Dubai (73rd) ranks first across Middle East and Africa, while the city of Pointe-à-Pitre (69th) in Guadeloupe, takes the top spot for Central and South America.
Slagin Parakatil, Senior Researcher at Mercer, said: “Political instability, high crime levels, and elevated air pollution are a few factors that can be detrimental to the daily lives of expatriate employees their families and local residents.
“In a world economy that is becoming more globalised, cities beyond the traditional financial and business centres are working to improve their quality of living so they can attract more foreign companies.
“This year’s survey recognises so-called ‘second tier’ or ‘emerging’ cites and points to a few examples from around the world. These cities have been investing massively in their infrastructure and attracting foreign direct investments by providing incentives such as tax, housing, or entry facilities.”
Parakatil added that emerging cities will become major players that traditional financial centres and capital cities will have to compete with.
Singapore is followed by four Japanese cities – Tokyo (43rd), Kobe (47th), Yokohama (49th) and Osaka (57th), while Dushanbe (209th) in Tajikistan is the lowest-ranking city in the region.
Parakatil said: “Asia has a bigger range of quality-of-living standard amongst its cities than any other region. For many cities, such as those in South Korea, the quality of living is continually improving. But for others, such as some in China, issues like pervasive poor air pollution are eroding their quality of living.”
Andrew Batt, International Group Editor of PropertyGuru Group, wrote this story. To contact him about this or other stories email andrew@propertyguru.com.sg
Recent stories you may have missed:
URA Launches new property app
Singapore private home sales may drop 20-30% this year
Golf Course redevelopment could yield 16,000 homes
Modest rise in Singapore private home sales during January 2014
If you have a property story you want us to publish email: andrew@propertyguru.com.sg