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World's best city for expats revealed


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http://edition.cnn.com/2016/02/23/travel/best-cities-for-expats-2016-mercer/

World's best city for expats revealed

(CNN)Ever doubted that cake makes the world a better place?
Consider the fact that Vienna -- the city that perfected the doughnut, the chocolate cake, the strudel and a zillion other calorific treats -- has been named the world's best city for expats.
No coincidence surely.
The Austrian capital ranked in the top spot for overall quality of living in consulting firm Mercer's 18th annual study of foreign workers' overseas lifestyles.
For the seventh year running it beat out major international capitals including New York, London, Paris, Hong Kong and Dubai -- none of which made it anywhere near the top 20.
Immediately behind Vienna are a slew of other mainly Western European cities, with Zurich, Switzerland in second place and Munich, Germany in fourth.
European dominance
"Despite recent security issues, social unrest and concern about the region's economic outlook, European cities continue to offer some of the world's highest quality of living," Mercer says.
The top five is rounded out by New Zealand's biggest city, Auckland, and Vancouver on Canada's west coast.
Singapore is Asia's highest ranking city, taking 26th place, Dubai claims top ranking for the Middle East at 75, while Africa's only two destinations to make the top 100 are Cape Town at 92 and Johannesburg at 95.
The study of 440 cities evaluated standards of safety, health, schools, recreation, environment, public services and cakes (well, OK, consumer goods).
New York-based Mercer says financial clouds looming over Europe have failed to dent the continent's dominance of its list, while ongoing instability has consigned many Middle Eastern and Africa cities to the bottom rungs.
"Despite economic uncertainties, Western European cities continue to enjoy some of the highest quality of living worldwide; they fill seven places in the top-10 list," Mercer adds.
Least desirable destinations
In sixth place is German city Dusseldorf, followed by Frankfurt in seventh, Geneva at eighth, Copenhagen in ninth and Sydney, Australia making 10th.
At 28, San Francisco is the highest ranking U.S. city, followed by Boston at 34, Honolulu at 35, Chicago at 43 and New York at 45.
Paris, which witnessed two major terror attacks in 2015, is 37 on the list, two stops above London at 39.
Bringing up the rear of the 230 ranked cities are Baghdad (at 230), Central African Republic's Bangui (229), Sana'a, Yemen (228), Port-au-Prince, Haiti (227) and Khartoum, Sudan (226).
Mercer also ranked cities for delivering personal safety with Luxembourg taking top honors, jointly followed by Swiss capital Bern, Helsinki and Zurich.
Baghdad also came bottom of that list, with Damascus, the capital of civil war-ravaged Syria, just behind at 229.
15. Toronto (Canada) – Consultancy firm Mercer has published its annual list of the best cities for expat quality of life. Toronto, Canada comes in at number 15 -- one of only two North American cities to make the top of the list.
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14. Bern (Switzerland) – The Swiss capital Bern comes in at 14. Western European cities dominate the top of Mercer's list of 230 global destinations.
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13. Berlin (Germany) – The list measures factors such as quality of schools, political environment, safety, consumer goods and transport. Berlin's are enough to rank it at 13.
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12. Wellington (New Zealand) – It's the world's most southerly capital city, and is home to just 200,000 people. Two possible reasons New Zealand ranks in 12th position.
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11. Amsterdam (Netherlands) – Amsterdam's cycling culture and laid back atmosphere have helped it to the number 11 spot. More than 400 cities were surveyed by Mercer.
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10. Sydney (Australia) – Another city with a relaxed reputation, Sydney qualifies at number 10. The city was last year named as one of the world's most reputable.
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9. Copenhagen (Denmark) – Denmark's tough policies towards migrants have raised eyebrows lately, but the city is still seen as a welcoming place for expat workers.
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8. Geneva (Switzerland) – Reclining on a wall overlooking the lake is probably the only thing that doesn't cost a fortune in Geneva, one of the world's most expensive cities. Cost of living doesn't seem to impair quality of living though.
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7. Frankfurt (Germany) – Frankfurt works hard -- it's Germany's financial powerhouse -- but it also plays hard. The city is known for its lively cultural scene, and knows how to have fun when it snows, apparently.
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6. Dusseldorf (Germany) – Another German city of commerce takes seventh place in the Mercer list. There are three German cities in the top 10.


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5. Vancouver (Canada) – North America's highest entry on the list is the Canadian west coast city of Vancouver. The city is among several on Mercer's list also recently named as the world's most "livable" destinations.


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4. Munich (Germany) – It's unlikely that hosting the world's biggest beer festival is a major contributing factor to Munich's fourth-place ranking, but it can't hurt.


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3. Auckland (New Zealand) – New Zealand's largest city is close to about 50 volcanoes. None present a threat to Auckland's quality of life for expats though.


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2. Zurich (Switzerland) – Switzerland's banking capital is often said to be more of a village than a city.


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1. Vienna (Austria) – Vienna tops Mercer's quality of life list for the seventh year running. It's a far cry from the city at the bottom of the list...



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I went to Dusseldorf for a job interview, it's so fucking grey and sad I noped the fuck out of there.

Not sure why Copenhagen is in the least desirable though, perhaps because of the locals attitudes towards foreigners?

I lived there and it wasn't that bad, although living in Aarhus (the second largest city in Denmark after CPH) was a much better experience.

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Lots of boring places tbqh

Agree several of these cities are not very exciting at all even though you know the quality of life is good.

You definitely need a good salary to live in most of them which excludes a lot of people.

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The only cities in Germany I would recommend are Munich, Cologne and Berlin. I lived in Cologne and I think its very beautiful and I want to go back there again. Munich is superb too but very expensive comparing to the other 2 cities.

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I went to Düsseldorf in a holiday and found the city so quiet and pretty. Not grey at all! They had a beautiful shore in the river, etc.

Anyway, the best city to live is that where you can be happy. It can be New York or the smallest city in Siberia.

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How i wish i lived in a dull place :( Spanish cities are so colourful and full of people and all that, and I always envy those little cute places that are absolutely dead at sunset. :lmao::lmao:

It's true that we wish what we don't have. I'm tired of seeing people in the street until midnight and them playing and laughing and talking and all that. I want quiet evenings!

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Agree several of these cities are not very exciting at all even though you know the quality of life is good.

You definitely need a good salary to live in most of them which excludes a lot of people.

You need a really good salary to live anywhere these days :lol:

I was surprised to see so many German cities in the Top 15. I was expecting one or two German cities not almost a third of the Top 15. I have been to Frankfurt and Koln and loved it. I think the list reflects the countries whose economies have been less touched by all the mayhem that started in 2008/2009. Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Switzerland and less than a handful EU countries

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As Karbatal mentioned, this list is for people with big salaries who don't need to worry about things like rent for an appartment. I have heard that New Zealand is extremly expensive and don't even get me started on Geneva and Zurich. If this was about middle class or low income people many of those cities would not be there. All of these cities have one similarity, you can call yourself lucky if you have an appartment (in or close to the city centre) that you can still afford because of some rent stabilization laws. The problem starts if if you want to move there. To find an affordable appartment in those cities has become almost impossible. Even in Berlin which is considered notoriesly cheap. Think again. Rents have gone up so much, it's insane. And what a strange article praising Frankfurt for its "lively cultural scene" while Berlin is mentioned for good schools, political situation (how weird is that?) and public transport. Seriously? And Düsseldorf? Well, there is a saying "the best about Düsseldorf is that Cologne is just across the Rhine". Quite frankly Düsseldorf is just on this list because some of the biggest German companies have their headquarters there. If Düsseldorf and Frankfurt are on the list, Hamburg should be on it too.

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As Karbatal mentioned, this list is for people with big salaries who don't need to worry about things like rent for an appartment. I have heard that New Zealand is extremly expensive and don't even get me started on Geneva and Zurich. If this was about middle class or low income people many of those cities would not be there. All of these cities have one similarity, you can call yourself lucky if you have an appartment (in or close to the city centre) that you can still afford because of some rent stabilization laws. The problem starts if if you want to move there. To find an affordable appartment in those cities has become almost impossible. Even in Berlin which is considered notoriesly cheap. Think again. Rents have gone up so much, it's insane. And what a strange article praising Frankfurt for its "lively cultural scene" while Berlin is mentioned for good schools, political situation (how weird is that?) and public transport. Seriously? And Düsseldorf? Well, there is a saying "the best about Düsseldorf is that Cologne is just across the Rhine". Quite frankly Düsseldorf is just on this list because some of the biggest German companies have their headquarters there. If Düsseldorf and Frankfurt are on the list, Hamburg should be on it too.

Haha! Yes, that's true.

I live in cologne and there's this rivalry between Düsseldorf and cologne.

I'm surprised about the many German cities.

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How i wish i lived in a dull place :( Spanish cities are so colourful and full of people and all that, and I always envy those little cute places that are absolutely dead at sunset. :lmao::lmao:

It's true that we wish what we don't have. I'm tired of seeing people in the street until midnight and them playing and laughing and talking and all that. I want quiet evenings!

Love Spain when visited because many people seemed to be enjoying themselves and staying up very late. Made me feel that I take life too seriously. lol

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German cities Düsseldorf, Frankfurt and Munich often make the top 10 when Forbes, The Guardian or other publications reveal their annual lists of "most livable cities", "quality of life" or similar. So I'm not surprised to see them here as well, even though they are grey, dull and boring to some people

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