Swiss cities top quality of life survey; S'pore is best in Asia

BERN - SWISS cities have topped an annual quality of living survey again, while Singapore was best among Asian cities.

Zurich and Geneva took the top two places, with the Swiss capital Bern coming in ninth in the Mercer Human Resource Consulting survey.

It found that standards in the Swiss cities were unparalleled after evaluating 39 quality of living criteria, including political, social, economic and environmental factors; personal safety and health; and education, transport and other public services.

'The combination of political stability and a high level of infrastructure makes the Swiss cities achieve pretty high ranks,' senior researcher at Mercer, Mr Slagin Parakatil, told The Straits Times.

Zurich has maintained its top spot since overtaking former No.1 Vancouver in 2002.

In health and sanitation, Zurich came in 6th. This criterion looks at the quality and availability of hospitals and medical supplies, as well as air pollution levels and infectious diseases. Waste removal and sewage systems, water potability and the presence of harmful animals and insects are also taken into account.

Covering 215 cities, the survey is meant to be a guide for governments and major companies as they place employees on international assignments.

It uses New York as a base with a score of 100. This year, the city was ranked 48th.

Singapore was 34th, ahead of Tokyo in 35th place but behind Paris in 33rd.

After Tokyo and other Japanese cities, Hong Kong, in the 70th place, was the next Asian city.

Kuala Lumpur was 75th in the overall table, with Johor Baru coming in at 101 and Bangkok, 109.

Mr Parakatil noted that Singapore 'scores well' in all criteria, including a high level of infrastructure, but pointed out that environmental factors were a downside.

'Traffic congestion can be an issue. The climate also, to a certain extent, can be an issue; the high humidity and heat can affect the expatriate and his family,' he said.

In the area of health and sanitation, Singapore came in 50th, as air pollution has a high weighting in the report, said Mr Parakatil. In addition, infectious diseases inherent to tropical countries also pose a problem, he added.

However, since Singapore had a score of 102.5, it is not necessary for companies to pay a hardship allowance to employees sent to the Republic, he pointed out.

Companies would be advised to lay out this extra cost only for employees sent to cities scoring less than 90, he said. Such cities include Kuala Lumpur, Dubai, Taipei and Seoul.

Japanese cities scored highly for sanitation and health, but many other Asian cities faltered here. Hong Kong came in at the 117th place, while Shanghai and Beijing were ranked 134th and 166th.

'Modernisation of medical infrastructure has improved living standards in these Chinese cities. However, air pollution and inadequate waste removal and sewage systems are still a concern,' noted Mr Parakatil.

Indian cities also did poorly in this area, with Chennai at position 177 and Mumbai at 209. Poor waste removal and sewage systems mixed with a dense population and increasing air pollution resulted in low ratings.

Mr Parakatil noted that while Western European cities continued to dominate the top 20, Eastern European cities continued to climb the ranks as investment in infrastructure increased.

In Asia, he noted that Chinese cities - especially Shanghai and Beijing - are on the rise in terms of their quality of living standards. Shanghai moved up from 103rd to 100th place, while Beijing advanced from 121st to 116th place.

And those ranked the most unliveable cities are those stricken by civil strife. At the bottom is Baghdad with a score of just 14.5.