Melbourne, Vancouver top city list

October 4, 2002

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Melbourne and Vancouver are the best cities in the world for expatriates to live in, according to a survey by the Economist Intelligence Unit.

Both Australia and Canada fared well in the survey, with the west Australian city of Perth ranking third, and Sydney, Brisbane and Adelaide tying in eighth place.

Toronto and Montreal also made the top 10, while Calgary was 16th.

Port Moresby, the capital of Papua New Guinea came in last place, while the European Union was considered the best region to live just ahead of North America.

Conducted by the London-based EIU -- the business information arm of the Economist Group -- the survey assessed the level of hardship for expatriates in 130 cities.

It looked at 12 factors including housing, education, recreational activities and climate, rating every city on a five-point scale in each category, with five indicating extreme hardship.

Melbourne weather, notorious for providing four seasons in a single day was all that prevented it from receiving a perfect score of zero.

Port Moresby

On the other end of the scale, Port Moresby managed a hardship score of 80.

There, expatriates "must take extreme security precautions ... Education and health indicators are poor, corruption is rife and high humidity makes the climate oppressive all year round," the report said.

Rounding out the top ten cities were Vienna, Geneva and Zurich (all equal fourth) while Copenhagen, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt and Oslo were also equal eighth.

The Japanese cities of Osaka and Tokyo were the highest rated in Asia in equal 21st spot. Next best was Hong Kong in 44th place. The most livable mainland Chinese cities were Guangzhou and Shanghai at equal 73rd.

London was also rated 44th while Honolulu was the preferred U.S. city in equal 21st place. New York was ranked 52nd.

Middle East

Regionally, the highest hardship was found in Africa and the Middle East, the report found.

The European Union was the least affected by hardship, but North America was also "a good place to live."

"Despite the increased fear of terrorism and high levels of violent crime in some cities, the United States and Canada have fairly low hardship ratings thanks to a highly developed infrastructure, good education and health indicators and the widespread availability of recreational activities," the survey said.

The EIU report found a clear gap between west and east European cities, while hardship in Asia and Australasia also was grouped in two extremes.

Compared with the low hardship ratings in Australia and also parts of Asia, the region was home to cities where expatriates encountered severe hardship, the survey found.

The Pakistani port city of Karachi received the second highest hardship rating of 74, the Indian cities of New Delhi and Mumbai scored 62 and 57 respectively, while the Indonesian capital Jakarta polled a high 56 coming in 119th place.

Elsewhere in Asia, Bangkok scored 45, Manila 47, Colombo 52, Hanoi 54, Ho Chi Minh 55, Phnom Penh 70 and Dhaka 71.

1. (tie) Melbourne, Australia
1. Vancouver, Canada
3. Perth, Australia
4. (tie) Vienna, Austria
4. Toronto, Canada
4. Geneva, Switzerland
4. Zurich, Switzerland
8. (tie) Adelaide, Australia
8. Brisbane, Australia
8. Sydney, Australia
8. Copenhagen, Denmark
8. Dusseldorf, Germany
8. Frankfurt, Germany
8. Oslo, Norway
8. Montreal, Canada
16. (tie) Calgary, Canada
16. Helsinki, Finland
16. Stockholm, Sweden
19. (tie) Berlin, Germany
19. Amsterdam, Netherlands
21. (tie) Tokyo, Japan
21. Osaka, Japan
21. Honolulu, Hawaii
24. (tie) Hamburg, Germany
24. Munich, Germany
24. Auckland, New Zealand
24. Wellington, New Zealand
28. (tie) Brussels, Belgium
28. Reykjavik, Iceland
28. Luxembourg, Luxembourg
28. Boston, Massachusetts
32. (tie) Lyon, France
32. Paris, France
34. (tie) Barcelona, Spain
34. Atlanta, Georgia
34. Chicago, Illinois
34. Lexington, Kentucky
34. Miami, Florida
39. (tie) Cleveland, Ohio
39. Houston, Texas
39. Los Angeles, California
39. Minneapolis, Minnesota
39. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
44. (tie) Hong Kong, China
44. Lisbon, Portugal
44. Madrid, Spain
44. London, England
44. San Francisco, California
49. Seattle, Washington
50. (tie) Singapore
50. Manchester, England
52. (tie) Dublin, Ireland
52. New York, New York
54. (tie) Milan, Italy
54. Detroit, Michigan
54. Budapest, Hungary
57. (tie) Prague, Czech Republic
57. Rome, Italy
57. Washington, D.C.
60. Taipei, Taiwan
61. Seoul, South Korea
62. (tie) San Juan, Puerto Rico
62. San Jose, Costa Rica
64. (tie) Athens, Greece
64. Montevideo, Uruguay
66. Santiago, Chile
67. Buenos Aires, Argentina
68. Dubai, UAE
69. (tie) Tel Aviv, Israel
69. Warsaw, Poland
71. (tie) Zagreb, Croatia
71. Abu Dhabi, UAE
73. (tie) Guangzhou, China
73. Shanghai, China
75. (tie) Panama City, Panama
75. Amman, Jordan
77. (tie) Bahrain, Bahrain
77. Beijing, China
77. Shenzhen, China
77. Moscow, Russia
81. Pretoria, South Africa
82. (tie) Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
82. St. Petersburg, Russia
84. Tianjin, China
85. (tie) Sao Paulo, Brazil
85. Kiev, Ukraine
87. (tie) Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
87. Lima, Peru
87. Istanbul, Turkey
87. Kuwait, Kuwait
87. Tashkent, Uzbekistan
87. Tunis, Tunisia
93. (tie) Quito, Ecuador
93. Johannesburg, South Africa
93. Bucharest, Romania
96. (tie) Asuncion, Paraguay
96. Casablanca, Morocco
98. Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei
99. (tie) Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
99. Baku, Azerbaijan
101. (tie) Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia
101. Bangkok, Thailand
101. Caracas, Venezuela
101. Tripoli, Libya
105. (tie) Guatemala, Guatemala
105. Mexico City, Mexico
105. Manila, Philippines
105. Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
105. Belgrade, Yugoslavia
105. Harare, Zimbabwe
111. Cairo, Egypt
112. Libreville, Gabon
113. Colombo, Sri Lanka
114. Douala, Cameroon
115. (tie) Hanoi, Vietnam
115. Bogota, Colombia
115. Nairobi, Kenya
118. Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam
119. (tie) Jakarta, Indonesia
119. Tehran, Iran
121. New Delhi, India
122. Dakar, Senegal
123. Abidjan, Ivory Coast
124. Mumbai, India
125. Algiers, Algeria
126. Phnom Penh, Cambodia
127. (tie) Dhaka, Bangladesh
127. Lagos, Nigeria
129. Karachi, Pakistan
130. Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea

Copyright 2002

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