Where Is the Best Quality of Life Abroad?

The best quality of life abroad can be very subjective. It really is about how you feel about a place and how well you think the things that are important to you will be fulfilled by your new country and city. It is helpful to look at the quality of life surveys that are conducted by many companies each year, but it is important to understand that the factors each study measures often differ greatly and the weighting they give to each factor may be different. In the end, studies can be useful if you look at the individual factors they analyze to see if they are the factors most important to you.

We looked at several leading global studies that are conducted annually to better understand the factors they use to generate their rankings for the best quality of life abroad. The first two studies we reviewed were conducted by global organizations that focus on providing quality of life information to their client base, primarily companies that relocate their employees around the world. We also looked at a relatively new company that bases its reports on global user-generated data. Finally, we reviewed a study from a highly respected organization of 32 leading first-world countries that ranks nations by quality of life.

Mercer’s Quality of Living Rankings 2012

Mercer is a consulting firm that advises 6,000 global clients on corporate relocation and other issues. Clients and other multinational corporations primarily purchase Mercer’s Quality of Living Rankings 2012 report. You may want to ask your corporate relocation department for a copy of the report if you will be relocating for an overseas assignment.

Since Mercer’s report is so highly regarded, we spoke with Ed Hannibal, Mercer Consulting’s Global Mobility Practice Leader for North America, to get a better understanding of how the study is conducted. “We have been doing this study since 1994,�? Hannibal said. “We research 39 proprietary factors in each selected city, primarily capitals and major cities in each of the 221 countries we measure. The factors are then categorized into 10 major areas of interest: political/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. Each category is assessed for its direct impact on the ability of expats to maintain a high quality of life.�?

Each year, Mercer also reports on a subset of its overall quality of living data. For 2012, infrastructure was the subset covered. “We looked at the supply of electricity, water availability, telephone, mail services, public transportation, traffic congestion, airports and the availability of international flights,�? Hannibal explained. “We chose infrastructure because it is a hardship for expats who relocate if strong infrastructure is lacking. In previous reports we have focused on personal safety and eco-friendly cities as part of the quality of life study.�?

Although you must purchase the complete report, you can access the Mercer summary and highlights of the research. For 2012, Mercer’s top 10 cities for quality of life were: Vienna, Austria; Zurich, Switzerland; Auckland, New Zealand; Munich, Germany; Vancouver, Canada; Dusseldorf, Germany; Frankfurt, Germany; Geneva, Switzerland; Copenhagen, Denmark; Bern, Switzerland; and, Sydney, Australia (Sydney tied Bern for the tenth spot).