http://channels.netscape.com/ns/homerealestate/package.jsp?name=fte/bestqualityoflife/bestqualityoflife <b>Top 10 Cities With Best Quality of Life</b> The best place to live in the world is Zurich, Switzerland, according to a quality-of-life survey conducted by Mercer Human Resource Consulting. Zurich was crowned No. 1 for the second year running based on 39 criteria that included a variety of political, social, and economic factors such as the quality of health, education, and transportation services. Of the world's top 30 cities, 17 are in Europe. All 215 cities worldwide were judged against New York City as the baseline, which came in at No. 44. The only U.S. city to make the top 20 was San Francisco at No. 18. Other high-scoring U.S. cities were Honolulu, Seattle, Portland, and Boston. <b>Top 10 Cities With the Best Quality of Life</b> Zurich, Switzerland Vancouver, Canada Vienna, Austria Geneva, Switzerland Sydney, Australia Auckland, New Zealand Copenhagen, Denmark Frankfurt, Germany Bern, Switzerland Munich, Germany <b>Cities With the Worst Quality of Life (in descending order):</b> Pointe Noire, Congo Baghdad, Iraq Bangui, Central African Republic Brazzaville, Congo <b>Top 10 Safest Cities (based on crime levels, law enforcement, and internal stability)</b> Luxembourg Bern, Switzerland Geneva, Switzerland Helsinki, Finland Singapore Zurich, Switzerland Nagoya, Japan Omuta, Japan Osaka, Japan Tokyo, Japan Canadian cities are the safest in North America, due largely to strict law enforcement and low crime rates. The safest U.S. cities are Honolulu, Hawaii; <b>Houston, Texas;</b> and San Francisco, California. The Least Safe Cities: Bangui in the Central African Republic scored the lowest for personal safety of all cities worldwide. Other low-scoring cities are Abidjan in the Ivory Coast, Pointe Noire and Brazzaville in Congo, and Luanda in Angola. All have experienced prolonged periods of civil unrest, as well as high crime rates and poor law enforcement. Milan, Athens, and Rome are the least safe cities in Western Europe due largely to high crime levels. Washington, D.C. ranks lowest for personal safety in the United States.
Houston one of the safest in the states? Wow. Lanier really did a great job of lowering our crime rate by putting more cops on the streets when he was mayor.
well...although the cold weather here in Edmonton sucks...i do look forward to going home to Vancouver in 4 weeks.
Hey I live in a top 10 city in the world.. Copenhagen Denmark, cool and I am even thinking about moving hmmm
I've heard good things about Vancouver, not from David Duchovny, though. I'd like to visit some time (preferably as a guest of Vancouver native Kristen Kreuk, but that's not all that likely).
Cool, my sister will soon be moving to reigning champion Zurich. I'll have to visit her and see if it lives up to the hype. I recently visited the American leader, San Francisco. Nice city, but I wouldn't trade Houston for it. Obviously, they are looking at a bunch of criteria that a visitor can't avail himself of, like education and whatnot, but I can't see how a city where you have to walk uphill all the time can rank so highly.
yeah, i love it there. and don't consider the Kristen Kreuk thing too unlikely...3 years ago my friend was watchin them filming smallville and he talked to her for a bit...a few minutes later she inved him into her trailer for lunch - no - he never got any action - but supposedly she interacts alot with the public. too bad i haven't seen her yet
Why are there only 215 cities included in this survey? Heck, there have to be at least 215 countries out there (each with a capital), not to mention all the individual provinces/states with capitals of their own not to mention all the other cities that don't have an official role. Cities in Texas alone that should definitely be included are Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, Austin, Chorpus (not to mention you could also include El Paso, Lubbock, Amarillo, Brownsville, Waco - granted not everyone's cup of tea, but just because there aren't millions of people doesn't make it a worse city). Plus, why is NYC chosen as the base?
any germans here? because i was thinking of moving to Germany just for a year or so (i don't own a house anywhere - but my parents both live in the Vancouver area). frankfurt, munich, or berlin?
If you're going to live in BC, you might as well opt for Victoria. Same mild climate, but with a whole lot less rain (it all gets scraped off by the mountains and falls on Vancouver).
victoria is for sure beautiful...only been there 4 or 5 times...but i love the mountains of vancouver. grouse, seymour, cypress, heck- even a few hours out whistler, hemlock, baker, etc.
Are you danish or living there temporarily? my old man was danish, and my grandfather conducter the house orchestra in Tivoli. copenhagen is an absolutely beautiful city i think, tho i've never been in the winter. my sister and i spent a summer there when i was about 12. i've been looking for someone to help research my family geneolgy in fredericia.
Well, I live in Munich now. Depends on what you want. From Munich, you are close to fantastic ski resorts, beautiful lakes, and Bavarian food is pretty good. Berlin (depending on what part of the city you live in) is a bit cheaper, and there is more nightlife. Munich is kind of "chic", while there is more action in Berlin (it is much bigger). Munich has the best soccer team in the world. Berlin is Germany's capital, so it is closer to international politics. The weather is better in Munich, I would say, but there is more snow in the winter. From Munich, you can drive to Austria and even Italy. Overall, I think it is pretty even. I would not really recommend Frankfurt. It is Europe's No. 2 financial center (behind London), so there are a lot of investment bankers, etc., but in terms of culture and beauty of the city, Munich and Berlin are ahead. One positive for Frankfurt is that it is very centrally located and you have the best connections anywhere (largest airport, Lufthansa hub).
It sucks in the winter, I think, because it gets dark too early. I lived there on and off for two years (in Vesterbro/Frederiksberg), and I did not like the winter at all, even though the Danish people manage to make their homes "hyggelig" (cozy) so they cope well with the cold winter. Summer is great as the sun goes down late, and temperatures are pleasant. The girls are stylish and pretty, but some appeared kind of cold, I thought. I prefer latin girls who just seem friendlier!
As somebody who despises cold weather, I'm shocked to see a lot of those cities on the "best quality of life" rankings. I just can't rank a city to have a good quality of life if it's miserable to even walk outside due to the cold. My list would be dominated by good weather cities.
Absolutely agree with bigtexxx. My list would have cities like Barcelona, Miami, Rome near the top. Zürich has lots of beautiful ladies, though, if you visit, go to a place called "Kaufleuten", one of the highest averages of hot chicas I have seen. Luxembourg is pretty boring, I grew up about half an hour from there. Very clean and rich, though. Their language kind of sounds like someone trying to speak German and French at the same time, while also having to throw up.
do you speak danish? we never learned, although i really wish i had now. dad used to say it was not so much a language as a throat disease. but i love the women, and SAS has some of the best loooking stewardess anywhere, although for me, prime pulchritude is found on Lan Chile!