Vancouver is the best place to live in North America and No. 5 in the world, according to Mercer’s latest Quality of Living Rankings.
The annual study placed Vancouver fifth for the second consecutive year, after Vienna, Zurich, Auckland and Munich.
Mercer’s survey, which is meant to help companies compensate employees fairly when placing them on international assignments, looks at the climate, housing conditions, and politics among other indicators.
With a housing affordability crisis in Vancouver, and most single family homes now over $1 million, some may wonder how the city was able to rank so high. But Eleana Rodriguez, a spokeswoman for Mercer, said purchasing affordability was not one of the factors taken into consideration, since most employees working in foreign cities are not typically buying homes.
Cost of living is taken into consideration, however, and she said Vancouver ranks high because of its favourable social and political climate, as well as a high standard of healthy living and medical care.
The company reports information and hardship premium recommendations for more than 440 cities, while the ranking covers 230 of these cities.
European cities dominate with seven cities in the Top 10, along with major cities in Australia and New Zealand. The No. 1 city is Vienna followed by Zurich in second, Munich (4), Düsseldorf (6), and Frankfurt (7,) with Geneva and Copenhagen in eighth and ninth places, respectively,
Vancouver is the highest-ranking city in North America and the region’s only city in the Top 10.
Elsewhere, Singapore (26) is the highest-ranking Asian city, whereas Dubai (74) ranks first across the Middle East and Africa. Montevideo in Uruguay (78) takes the top spot for South America.
Baghdad finished 230th and last in the survey.