Dubai tops region in global quality of living rankings

Dubai is once again the leading Middle East city in Mercer's quality of living global rankings.

However, the city has slipped three positions – from 80th to 83rd – compared with last year. Abu Dhabi, on the other hand, has gained one position and moves up to 87th.

The rankings are based on a point-scoring index and the cities are compared with New York, which has the benchmark score of 100.

"Though the rankings show a fall in Dubai's position, its score climbed from 87 to 87.1, indicating an increase in the quality of living standard," Slagin Parakatil, Mercer's Quality of Living Product Manager, told Emirates Business.

Other Middle East cities featured include Manama (122nd), Cairo (123rd), Amman (127th), Kuwait City (133rd), Jeddah (160th), Riyadh (163rd) and Beirut (171st). "Several regions of the Middle East have benefited enormously from government investment in infrastructure, health and sanitation and are rising up the rankings," added Parakatil.

However, a number of major cities in the region including Doha and Muscat are missing from the list.

"We have more than 400 cities in our database but only 215 are compared every year. We need to keep the same number of cities in order to be able to compare from one year to the other."

The ranking are drawn up to help governments and major companies place employees on overseas assignments. Cities are judged on an extensive list of criteria including such factors as personal safety, internal stability, crime, effectiveness of law enforcement and relationships with other countries.

"All 39 criteria are important. Some have a higher impact on the final result as they will affect an expatriate and his or her family positively or negatively. The political environment, the medical and health category, the socio-cultural environment and the climate all have a major impact on the result.

"Personal and family safety is of paramount importance when employees consider opportunities overseas.

"Businesses face constant challenges in identifying new markets, expanding operations and acquiring and strategically deploying resources. Establishing suitable allowances linked to local costs and quality of living is essential in encouraging expatriate employees with transferable skills to accept international assignments."

European cities dominate the worldwide rankings. Zurich retains its 2007 title as the highest ranked city, followed jointly by Vienna and Geneva at number two, Vancouver in fourth position and Auckland fifth. Baghdad remains at the bottom of the table.

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