Bucharest ranks 109th in Mercer’s 2019 Quality of Living survey, down two places from last year, when it ranked 107th. The ranking looks at 231 cities around the world.

Vienna tops the ranking for the tenth consecutive year, followed by Zurich (second place) and Auckland, Munich and Vancouver on a joint third place. On the other hand, Bangui (230th) and Baghdad (231st) take the last two spots.

As for European cities, they occupy 13 of the top 20 spots in this year’s ranking. “The major European capitals of Berlin (13), Paris (39) and London (41) remained static in the rankings this year, while Madrid (46) rose three places and Rome (56) climbed one,” reads Mercer’s press release. Bucharest, at number 109, ranks low in the European list but better than other European cities such as Sofia (116th) and Belgrade (139th).

Vancouver, at number 3, is the best-ranked city in North America, the same survey shows, while Washington DC (53rd) is the biggest faller. Detroit remains the US city with the lowest quality of living this year, with the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince (228th) the lowest in all the Americas. 

Dubai (74th) continues to rank highest for quality of living across the Middle East, closely followed by Abu Dhabi (78th). As for Asia, Singapore (25th) has the highest quality of living, followed by the five Japanese cities of Tokyo (49th), Kobe (49th), Yokohama (55th), Osaka (58th), and Nagoya (62nd).

Overall, Mercer evaluates local living conditions in more than 450 cities worldwide. The factors taken into account for the analysis include political stability, crime, law enforcement; currency exchange regulations, banking services; media availability and censorship, limitations on personal freedom; medical supplies and services, infectious diseases, sewage, waste disposal, air pollution; rental housing, household appliances, furniture, maintenance services); climate, record of natural disasters.

The full ranking is available here.

newsroom@romania-insider.com

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