31 May 2010
BEIRUT: A survey on the quality of living in 221 cities around the world by global consultants Mercer Human Resource Consulting ranked Beirut as the 172nd most desirable city for overall living standards and 16th among 24 cities surveyed in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region in 2010, as reported by Lebanon This Week, the economic publication of the Byblos Bank Group.
Beirut ranked in 175th place worldwide and in 16th place in the region in the 2009 survey. It also ranked 32nd among 33 Upper Middle Income Countries (UMIC) included in the survey.
The study evaluated the cities based on 39 key quality-of-living factors grouped in 10 categories that include political, economic and socio-cultural factors, in addition to the environment, housing, recreation, health care, education, transportation, and other public services. New York City served as the benchmark for other cities with a score of 100.
Lebanon’s capital was given a score of 54.6 points in 2010, up 5.2 percent from 51.9 points in 2009. Its score came below the global mean of 75.5 points as well as below the MENA and Arab means of 62 points and 61.7 points respectively.
But Beirut’s year-on-year increase in score compares favorably with the annual rise of 0.6 percent in the average score of the MENA region and the 0.8 percent rise in the average score of the Arab world.
On a global basis, Beirut ranked ahead of Damascus, Yerevan, and Almaty in Kazakhstan; and came immediately behind Cotonou in Benin, Moscow, and Vientiane in Laos. It also ranked ahead of Conakry in Guinea Republic, and behind Libya’s capital Tripoli, St. Petersburg, and Moscow among UMICs. Regionally, Beirut ranked ahead of Damascus, Djibouti and Algiers and behind Tripoli, Jeddah and Riyadh.
Beirut’s rank improved by three spots, posting the second highest rise in the region’s rankings along with Kuwait City and Casablanca. The scores of eight cities in the MENA region improved, five declined and seven remained unchanged, while the rankings of nine cities improved, 10 declined and one stayed the same. Dubai and Abu Dhabi were the cities with the highest level of quality of living in the region.
Mercer added Doha, Muscat, Noaukchott and Rabat to the survey for the first time, and removed Jerusalem from the rankings. It said the addition of new cities this year aims to give a broader picture as to where firms are sending their expatriate employees in the current business environment.
Vienna is the world’s best city for overall quality of living with a score of 108.6 points, while Baghdad was considered to be the world’s least appealing city with a score of 14.7 points.
The survey is conducted annually to help multinational firms assess international hardship allowance for their expatriate workers. The survey’s data was collected between September and November 2009 and has been regularly updated to take account of changing circumstances. – The Daily Star
Copyright The Daily Star 2010.
