News24
21 Mar 2019, 23:44 GMT+10
Durban was ranked as South Africa's best city in terms of quality of living, according to Mercer's 21st Quality of Living survey.
The global survey is conducted annually to enable multinational companies and other organisations to compensate employees fairly when placing them on international assignments.
Factors that determine quality of living include recreation, housing, the economic environment, the availability of consumer goods, public services and transport, the political and social environment, the socio-cultural environment, schools and education, the natural environment and medical and health options.
Durban was ranked in 88th position among 231 cities surveyed globally, while Johannesburg came in position 96 globally.
Life in SA's economic hub is improving, despite challenges
Luxembourg topped the list as the safest city globally - followed by Helsinki as well as the Swiss cities of Basel, Bern and Zurich. Damascus ranked as the least safe city with Bangui in the Central African Republic as second most unsafe.
Port Louis in Mauritius - ranked 83rd globally - beats Durban as the top ranking city in Africa for quality of living. At 59th place globally, it also ranks as the safest city in Africa.
As many as 13 of the world's top 20 spots were taken by European cities.
Vienna in Austria retained the top position as best city globally in terms of quality of living - a spot it has retained for a decade.
Zurich in Switzerland is ranked in second place, followed in third place by the cities of Auckland in New Zealand, Munich in Germany and Vancouver in Canada. Vancouver has also retained its top spot in North America for the past decade.
Berlin took the 13th spot, Paris came in 39th, London came in 41st, Madrid took 46 and Rome placed 56th.
At global position 25, Singapore is the best-rated city in Asia.
The 2019 Mercer survey shows that many cities around the world still offer attractive environments in which to do business. They understand that quality of living is an essential component of a city's attractiveness for businesses and mobile talent.
According to Nicol Mullins, principal leader - career business at Mercer, explains that companies looking to expand abroad have a host of considerations when identifying where best to locate staff and new offices.
Get a daily dose of Toronto Telegraph news through our daily email, its complimentary and keeps you fully up to date with world and business news as well.
Publish news of your business, community or sports group, personnel appointments, major event and more by submitting a news release to Toronto Telegraph.
More InformationLONDON, U.K.: This week, BP appointed Simon Henry, former Shell finance chief, to its board as a non-executive director effective September...
OTTAWA, Canada: With Canada Post struggling to maintain operations amid labour unrest, rivals like FedEx and UPS are stepping in to...
NEW YORK, New York - U.S. and global markets showed a mixed performance in Tuesday's trading session, with some indices edging higher...
PARIS, France: French military and intelligence officials have accused China of orchestrating a covert campaign to damage the reputation...
NEW DELHI, India: Birkenstock is stepping up its efforts to protect its iconic sandals in India, as local legal representatives conducted...
HONG KONG: China has fired back at the European Union in an escalating trade dispute by imposing new restrictions on medical device...
OTTAWA, Canada: With Canada Post struggling to maintain operations amid labour unrest, rivals like FedEx and UPS are stepping in to...
The delay adds yet another twist to Trump's original 90 deals in 90 days promise -- so far yielding only two vague trade agreements...
New Delhi [India], July 9 (ANI): India's share in the global equity market capitalisation rose to 4 per cent in June 2025, recovering...
(Photo credit: Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images) Vladimir Guerrero Jr. had two hits and two RBIs, Davis Schneider homered and Chris...
New Delhi [India], July 9 (ANI): India's share in the global market capitalisation rose to 4 per cent in June 2025, recovering from...
(Photo credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images) Giancarlo Stanton hit a three-run homer in the sixth inning, Aaron Judge added his 34th...