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Vancouver 3rd In World For Quality Of Life


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Vancouver places third in global survey ranking overall quality of life

Provided by: Canadian Press

Written by: CRAIG WONG

Apr. 2, 2007

VANCOUVER (CP) - Vancouver ranked third in a global survey ranking overall quality of life, narrowly losing out to Swiss cities Zurich and Geneva, says a new global survey published Monday.

Other Canadian cities included in the survey were Toronto at 15th, Ottawa at 18th, Montreal at 22nd and Calgary at 24th. Mercer Human Resource Consulting gave Vancouver a score of 107.7 in its annual ranking of quality of life, tied with Vienna for third place and behind Zurich with 108.1 and Geneva at 108.

Danielle Bushen, a principal at Mercer in Toronto, said Vancouver had high scores across the board, but its weak spot was crime.

"Crime rates in North America tend to be slightly higher than in Europe in general and this holds true when you compare locations like Zurich and Geneva to Vancouver," Bushen said.

Vancouver's showing in the global ranking follows a foul winter last year that saw storms knock out electricity in many parts of the city for days and forced residents to drink bottled water for weeks.

The survey ranked 215 cities around the world based on 39 quality of life determinants including social, economic, environmental and personal safety factors.

Cities were ranked against New York as the base city which was given a base score of 100.

The five Canadian cities included in the survey all ranked higher than any of the U.S. cities surveyed.

Bushen said the frigid Canadian winters do count against places like Calgary, Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto, but for the most part they are stable and safe places to live.

"All of those things that could cause real differences in quality of life, and really create significant limitations on a person's quality of life, just aren't an issue. So we rate very highly," she said.

Honolulu was the highest ranked U.S. city at 27th.

Baghdad was ranked the world's least enticing city with a score of 14.5.

Other low-scoring cities included Brazzaville in Congo (29.5), Bangui in the Central African Republic (30.6) and Khartoum in Sudan (31).

All the Canadian cities in the survey also appeared in the top 25 ranking for health and sanitation with Calgary ranking as the top city in the world followed by Ottawa in fourth, Montreal and Vancouver tied for 10th and Toronto ranked 21st.

"There are a significant number of days in Toronto, particularly in the summer time, when there are air quality advisories. So while overall quality of life is great, in that one area Toronto rates a little bit lower," Bushen said.

The health and sanitation scores were based on the quality and availability of hospital and medical supplies and levels of air pollution and infectious diseases.

The efficiency of waste removal and sewage systems, water potability and the presence of harmful animals and insects are also taken into account.

In the U.S., Honolulu ranked second followed by Minneapolis in fifth place and Boston, Lexington and Pittsburgh tied at 10th.

The lowest-ranking city for health and sanitation is Baku in Azerbaijan, which scored 27.6.

Other low-scoring cities include Dhaka in Bangladesh, Antananarivo in Madagascar and Port Au Prince in Haiti, which scored 29.6, 30.1 and 34 respectively.

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The top most liveable cities around the world according to Mercer Human Resource Consulting

VANCOUVER (CP) - The top 10 city rankings, plus Canadian cities, for overall quality of living according to Mercer Human Resource Consulting's 2007 global quality of living survey:

1. Zurich, Switzerland 108.1.

2. Geneva, Switzerland. 108.

3-4. Vancouver, Canada. 107.7; Vienna, Austria. 107.7 (tie).

5-6. Auckland, New Zealand. 107.3; Dusseldorf, Germany. 107.3 (tie).

7. Frankfurt, Germany. 107.1.

8. Munich, Germany. 106.9.

9-10. Bern, Switzerland. 106.5; Sydney, Australia 106.5 (tie).

15. Toronto. 105.4.

18. Ottawa. 104.8.

22. Montreal. 104.3.

24. Calgary. 103.6.

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Vancouver places third in global survey ranking overall quality of life

Provided by: Canadian Press

Written by: CRAIG WONG

Apr. 2, 2007

Bushen said the frigid Canadian winters do count against places like Calgary, Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto, but for the most part they are stable and safe places to live.

But snow builds character :P

And truth be told, cities like Toronto and Montreal might be ranked 15th and 22nd respectively, but I'd much rather live in these cities than in most of the ones above them. But Vancouver is very deserving of top three.

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