Here are the best cities in the world for expats to live by Mercer

• Mercer’s 2016 list of best cities to live is dominated by European, Canadian and Scandinavian cities


• US and UK cities were ranked below the top 25


• Singapore is Asia’s top city followed by 5 Japanese cities


• The Philippines has only one city in the list and ranked below the lower half

New York-based consultancy firm Mercer has released its 2016 list of best cities in the world for expatriates to live.

Not surprisingly, the list is dominated by European, Scandinavian and Canadian cities. The closest an American city – San Francisco – could get is at number 28, while the highest ranked Asian city is Singapore at 26^th spot.

The top five cities, in particular order, are Vienna (Austria), Zurich (Switzerland), Auckland (New Zealand), Munich (Germany), and Vancouver (Canada).

Rounding up the top ten are Dusseldorf (Germany), Frankfurt (Germany), Geneva (Switzerland), Copenhagen (Denmark) and Sydney (Australia).

Aside from San Francisco, other US cities who made it to the top 50 are: Boston (34^th), Honolulu (35^th), Chicago (43^rd), New York City (44^th), Seattle (46^th) and Los Angeles (49^th).

United Kingdom’s London came way below at no. 39 while Edinburgh came at no. 46. France’s Paris is ranked 37^th, Spain’s Barcelona at 39^th and Italy’s Milan at 41^st.

Joining Singapore as the best Asian cities to live are 5 Japanese cities – Tokyo at 44^th, Kobe at 46^th, Yokohama at 49^th, Osaka at 58^th and Nagoya at 62^nd.

Hong Kong is at no. 70, Seoul at 73^rd, Taipei at 84^th, Kuala Lumpur at 86^th, Bandar Seri Begawan at 102^nd, Beijing at 118^th and Bangkok at 129^th.

Manila, the only Philippine city in the list is at 136^th spot, only slightly higher than China’s Nanjing (137^th), India’s Hyderabad (139^th), Indonesia’s Jakarta (142^nd) Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh (152^nd) and Myanmar’s Yangon (201^st).

Mercer, one of the world’s leading and largest human resources consulting firm with offices across 40 countries worldwide, based the ranking on the quality of living conditions analyzed according to 39 factors under 10 categories such as: Political and social environment; Economic environment; Socio-cultural environment; Medical and health considerations; Schools and education; Public services and transportation; Recreation; Consumer goods; Housing; and Natural environment.

“The scores attributed to each factor, which are weighted to reflect their importance to expatriates, permit objective city-to-city comparisons. The result is a quality of living index that compares relative differences between any two locations evaluated,” a statement on Mercer’s website said.

Meanwhile, the 5 worst among the 230 cities in the list are: Baghdad (Iraq), Bangui (Central African Republic), Sana’a (Yemen), Port-au-Prince (Haiti) and Khartoum (Sudan).

View Mercer’s complete list here.

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