Singapore leads Asia-Pacific cities in terms of high quality of living and it also ranked the highest in personal safety. Tokyo, Kobe, Yokohama, Osaka, and Nagoya followed Singapore lead on Mercer's quality of living survey.
The survey also listed Hong Kong and Seoul after the Japanese cities. Seoul jumped two places from 2017 after their political stability returned when their president was arrested last year. The survey also included cities in South-east Asia including Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Manila, and Jakarta. According to the survey, Phnom Penh is in the lowest rank in terms of personal safety. It noted that safety is still an issue on other Asian cities that include Almaty, Tashkent, Ashgabat, Dushanbe, and Bishkek.
The cities of Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen are highlighted as notable cities in mainland China. The Indian cities of New Delhi, Mumbai, and Bengaluru remained on its rank from last year in terms of overall quality of living. Chennai was ranked Southern Asia's safest city while Karachi is the least safe.
New Zealand and Australia remained in high rank in quality of living, along with Aukland, Sydney, Wellington, and Melbourne. The survey concluded that all the major cities in Australia are listed within the top 50 cities for safety. New Zealand cities, Auckland and Wellington, top the safety ranking for Oceania in the ninth place.
Mercer's survey took data from 231 cities and they were analyzed between September and November 2018. The data were regularly updated to account for changing circumstances. The changes in the data set include changes in politics, economy, and environmental developments.
According to the regional practice leader for Mercer global mobility, Asia, Middle East, Africa, and Turkey, Mario Ferraro, Singapore is continuously improving the standard of living of its residents with greater connectivity and sustainability of resources. He also said that considering its relatively small geographic footprint and the scarcity in resources, Singapore has had to think differently to remain competitive against neighboring emerging markets. The leader said that they continue to see huge forward-thinking policies that have enabled Singapore to develop economically and infrastructural, bringing benefits to its residents, whilst making the city Asia's most attractive destination for foreign talent.
The survey also said that London is the United Kingdom's best city to live in. It is in the 41st rank all over the world. Edinburgh is four places behind London while Glasgow is at the 48th place. Birmingham, Aberdeen, and Belfast are also included in Mercer's Quality of Living Rankings.
