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Vancouver cracks top 5 on global quality of life index

Vancouver cracks top 5 on global quality of life index

As if the balmy winter isn’t enough to brag about to fellow Canadians, Vancouver can now boast its status as having the best quality of life in North America.

Vancouver ranks 5th in the latest Mercer Quality of Living survey, behind Vienna, Zurich, Auckland and Munich. Toronto had the next highest ranking, in 15th spot, followed by Ottawa in 16th place, Montreal in 24th and Calgary in 23rd.

“Canada continues to offer a high quality of living for residents and expatriate employees,” says Eleana Rodriguez, a market business leader at Mercer Canada’s information solutions group.

“Major Canadian cities tend to rank highly due to Canada’s favourable political and social environment, as well as medical and health considerations. Our quality of living plays an important role as we continue to see more multinational corporations open doors in Canada, providing significant opportunities.”

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Canada far outpaced cities south of the border. The highest-ranking U.S. city was San Francisco in 27th spot. European cities dominated the ranking, with cities in Germany, Switzerland and Denmark helping to round out the top 10.

The survey is likely to spark a war or words across social media after The Economist recently ranked Toronto as the world’s best city in which to live, followed by Montreal, then Stockholm, Amsterdam and San Francisco. Vancouver didn’t even make the top 10.

The Economist survey looked at 50 major cities and ranked them by safety, livability, cost of living, business environment, degree of democracy and food security. The Mercer study looks at looked at many factors such as political and social environment, medical and health considerations, public services, transportation and housing.

Which survey is best? It depends on where you live.

People in Vancouver will point to their many parks and warmer climate (maybe not mentioning the rain), while Torontonians like to note their economic opportunities and lower housing costs (you get less of a dump for under a $1 million).

For those looking beyond Canada’s borders, Western Europe has a lot to brag about in the Mercer rankings.

Despite concerns about economic growth in the region, Western European cities take seven places in the top 10. The lowest-ranking cities in Western Europe are Belfast (63) and Athens (85), the report states.

The Mercer report also shows a huge range in quality-of-living standards across Asia. Singapore is the highest-ranking city, in 25th place, while Dushanbe, Tajikistan is the lowest in 214th spot. Tokyo ranked in 44th place, Hong Kong at 70th, Shanghai at 101 and Beijing at 118.

In the Pacific, New Zealand and Australian cities had some of the highest-ranked cities including Auckland and Sydney in the top 10.