New Zealand beats Aussie in a new survey

Ranking among the world’s top 12 cities for overall quality of living, New Zealand beats Australia hands down, according to a new international survey.

Mercer’s 2010 Worldwide Quality of Living Survey revealed while Auckland again was among the world’s top five cities, holding steady at 4th position on par with Vancouver, Sydney remained at 10th place.

Wellington held its position in 12th place, with the next Australian city on the list – Melbourne – sitting at 18th place.

Georgina Harley, head of Mercer’s information product solutions business, said New Zealand cities continue to tick all the boxes when it comes to assessing living conditions.

“Over the last few years, New Zealand cities have scored highly on most of the 10 liveability factors, giving expatriates access to quality housing close to the city, political stability, infrastructure and transport facilities, a wide selection of restaurants and other amenities, as well as a good education and environment for their families," Ms Harley said.

“Despite the economic challenges in New Zealand over the past 12 months, these natural peaks and troughs in economic stability are only one part of the bigger quality of living picture as New Zealand continues to rank well in all other categories."

Mercer’s analysis is based on an evaluation of 39 criteria for each city, grouped in 10 categories, including political, socio- economic and environmental factors, health and sanitisation, education, transport and other public services.

The survey covers 221 cities and cities are compared to New York as the base city, with an index score of 100.

 All New Zealand and Australian cities ranked higher than New York.

Globally, Vienna, Austria, retains the top spot as the city with the world’s best quality of living. Zurich and Geneva follow in second and third position, respectively. European cities continue to dominate amongst the top 25 cities in the index.

Despite its index score slightly increasing, Baghdad remains at the bottom of the table.

 Top 12 cities: