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Mercer's 2011 Quality of Living ranking highlights - Global
In 2011, the world continued to experience instability due to the enduring economic crisis. Economic uncertainty helped provoke social and political unrest of varying degrees in many urban areas. Protests and strikes in numerous North American and Western European cities have been largely peaceful. But violence – and, in places, civil war – have broken out in other regions, endangering the safety of both locals and expatriates.
The events of the “Arab Spring” of 2011, when citizens took to the streets to demand regime change in many North African and Middle Eastern countries, have lasted long past spring. Uncertainty continues in Tripoli, Libya, following the death of the country’s former leader, Muammar Qaddafi. And Cairo is still experiencing waves of violence through the fall of 2011, as the government clashes with protesters.
Some of this region’s cities, including Abu Dhabi and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, and Muscat, Oman, rank quite high in personal safety, mainly due to their internal stability and low crime levels.
Even generally calmer regions have suffered civil disorder. Large protests, some of which were violent, broke out several times this year in Santiago, Chile, in support of higher government involvement and subsidies for education. The threat of economic collapse and resulting austerity measures in Greece brought on repeated violent clashes between street protesters and police in Athens, Greece.
These significant challenges to the security of expatriates and local residents in many locations led Mercer to choose personal safety as the special topic of its 2011 rankings.
Those cities and countries that have escaped the brunt of social unrest and economic downturn have been able to continue investing in urban infrastructure and other provisions for comfortable and enjoyable daily living to improve the quality of living for their residents. If economic and political instability remain a global factor, cities in parts of Asia-Pacific and Western Europe, as well as in Canada, will continue to benefit from their relative stability and wealth of public services and recreational provisions, becoming more attractive destinations for expatriate employees.
1 Vienna Austria
2 Zurich Switzerland
3 Auckland New Zealand
4 Munich Germany
5 Düsseldorf Germany
5 Vancouver Canada
7 Frankfurt Germany
8 Geneva Switzerland
9 Bern Switzerland
9 Copenhagen Denmark
11 Sydney Australia
12 Amsterdam Netherlands
13 Wellington New Zealand
14 Ottawa Canada
15 Toronto Canada
16 Hamburg Germany
17 Berlin Germany
18 Melbourne Australia
19 Luxembourg Luxembourg
20 Stockholm Sweden
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