Quality of life in major cities

[bigbadwolf]

Some survey results from Mercer:

• European cities dominate annual worldwide quality of living rankings
• Zurich scores highest for overall quality of living; Baghdad, the lowest
• Luxembourg ranks highest for personal safety; Baghdad, the lowest

I see that the highest ranked US city is Honolulu, at #28. No US city is in the top 50 with regard to safety.

I lived in Baghdad from 1971 to 1973. It was as safe as safe could be: we didn't lock our house when we went out. And the city had a good mass transit system of municipal buses, and large, well-managed parks -- all thanks to the Ba'athist government. Look at the place today. How much more "peace" and "democracy" can it take?

I see also that Karachi is jostling Baghdad as one of the unsafest cities in the world. I think that assessment is correct. One takes one's life in one's hands every time one steps out.

 

[swindler]

I wish that you didn't have to pay for the full listings. I have seen similar reports and cities in Canada, Switzerland, Sweden, Germany and Norway all seem to clamor for the top positions. Usually the highest ranked American cities are San Francisco and Seattle.