Once more, Vienna ranked world’s nicest city and Baghdad worst

Baghdad in Iraq, rated 230th in the world, ranked last – with Damascus in Syria ranking second last at number 229.

Dubai has been ranked the top Middle Eastern city for expatriate living. “It’s a very fast growing, young and lively city…You don’t realise how safe Vienna is until you head overseas”, Hartlauer said.

Mercer’s survey is conducted annually to enable multinational companies and other employers to compensate employees fairly when placing them on worldwide assignments.

Muscat (Oman) is listed 107th on the global list followed by Doha (Qatar) in 110th place.

Upcoming host of the 2022 Fifa World Cup, Doha ranks 70th for personal safety.

“Elements that add to safety costs in the host location are obtaining suitable and well secured accommodation; having an in-house comprehensive expatriate security programme and providing access to reputable professional evacuation services and medical support firms, and finally, providing security training and guarded office premises”, added Parakatil.

London may pride itself on being the world’s top financial centre.

Singapore (26) ranked the highest in Asia, followed by five Japanese cities including Kobe, Nagoya, Osaka, Tokyo, and Yokohama – all tied for 32nd place – while Dubai (75th), Abu Dhabi (81), Mauritian capital of Port Louis (83), Cape Town (92) and Johannesburg (95) were among the cities offering the highest quality of living across Africa and the Middle East.

According to the 18th Mercer Quality of Life study which examined socioeconomic conditions of 230 global cities, Vienna, a city of almost 1.8 million people, is the world’s best city, followed by Zurich, Auckland, Munich and Vancouver.

United States cities perform relatively poorly in the study, largely because of issues around personal safety and crime. Hyderabad has slipped one rank from previous year to 139 in the overall rankings, on account of increased power disruptions, and extreme weather situation. Luxemburg is the safest, with Amsterdam in 16th place. “Due to the terrorist attacks and social unrest, a number of European cities have a low score, such as Paris (71), London (72) and Madrid (84)”, researchers say.