BT : S'pore ahead of Paris, Tokyo in quality of life

Business Times - 27 May 2010

S'pore ahead of Paris, Tokyo in quality of life

Top in Asia again, it ranks 28th out of 221 cities in a global survey by Mercer

By FELDA CHAY

LIFE'S good in Singapore - that is the finding of human resource consultancy firm Mercer during its annual ranking of cities according to quality of living.

The republic has retained its spot as the top Asian city boasting the highest quality of living by coming in 28th out of the 221 cities ranked in this year's survey.

Singapore was also the top-ranked Asian city last year, where it was placed 26th out of the 215 cities surveyed.

It also came in third among cities in the Asia-Pacific region in terms of eco-friendliness - which ranked cities based on factors such as use of renewable energy and pollution generated. Globally, Singapore ranked 22nd.

Mercer's Singapore mobility leader Derrick Kon said that Singapore stood out in Asia to become the city offering the best quality of life in areas such as political and social environment, economic environment, schools and education, and public services.

At 28th place, Singapore is ahead of its regional competitors such as Hong Kong and Tokyo, which were placed 71st and 40th respectively.

It also beat popular destinations such as Paris, which was ranked 34th, and London in 39th place.

European cities continued to dominate the top positions of the ranking, with Vienna keeping its seat as the place with the best quality of life.

Coming in second and third spots respectively are Zurich and Geneva.

Vancouver came in fourth, and rounding up the top five list is Auckland.

Among Asian cities, most maintained the same positions, though Tokyo fell from 35th to 40th place mainly because of climate changes.

Mercer publishes its list on quality of living annually to help multinational companies determine an appropriate amount of compensation for expatriates sent to work in difficult locations.

This year's rankings were based on data collected between September and November 2009.

Said Slagin Parakatil, senior researcher at Mercer: 'As the world economy becomes more globalised, cities in many emerging markets, such as the Middle East or Asia, have seen a significant influx of foreign companies and their expatriate employees in recent years.

'Despite the economic downturn and companies' efforts to contain costs, quality of living and hardship premiums remain important means of compensating expatriates for differences in living conditions.'

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