Luxembourg among the top 20 cities in the world for quality of life for expats
Source: Llibert Losada, Unsplash
Mercer has published an annual study on the standard of living of people, especially foreign workers, in the world's cities. In total, more than 200 locations were surveyed and ranked based on indicators of key characteristics, such as the level of ecology, safety, accessibility of housing and medicine, level of education, cultural life, working conditions, and family living conditions.
The top ten includes 7 European cities, 2 more from the Pacific region, and 1 from North America. The list is as follows:
- Vienna, Austria
- Zurich, Switzerland
- Auckland, New Zealand
- Copenhagen, Denmark
- Geneva, Switzerland
- Frankfurt, Germany
- Munich, Germany
- Vancouver, Canada
- Sydney, Australia
- Dusseldorf, Germany
It's interesting to note that despite the abundance of German cities in the top 10, Berlin only managed a modest 18th place, tied with Ottawa. Luxembourg performed slightly better, coming in at 16th place. Most likely, the high cost of housing and perhaps the strict selection of job applicants influenced the final result.
As expected, the worst cities in which to live and work were African settlements. The Middle East also moved closer to the bottom of the ranking:
- 241st is Khartoum, Sudan
- 240th is Baghdad, Iraq.
- 239 is Bangui, Central African Republic
- 238th place goes to Sana'a, Yemen
- 237th place goes to Port-au-Prince, Haiti
The situation in the Balkans is somewhat better. Almost all of the capitals of the former Yugoslavia rank between 100 and 200. Sarajevo is 165th, Skopje is 163rd, and Belgrade, which has become one of the most popular destinations in recent years, is 142nd.
