In second and third places of this ranking were respectively Swiss Zurich and Geneva. Fourth place was shared by Vancouver and New Zealand's Auckland.
As noted by Lenta.ru, among the criteria determining the position of a particular city in the Mercer ranking are the quality of medical care and postal services, political and economic stability, level of environmental pollution, traffic intensity, degree of media censorship, as well as the variety of theaters and restaurants.
However, as the British newspaper Guardian emphasizes, the study does not take into account the tax features in different cities. The newspaper points out that despite the high level of infrastructure development, Austria and Vienna in particular have very high mandatory payments – since 2005, the corporate tax has been 25%, and income tax from 10 to 50% (tax is calculated on a progressive scale). In the UK (London took 38th place in the ranking), the income tax for residents of the country is from 10 to 40%.
Representatives of Mercer note that the study involving 215 cities was conducted to help public and large private enterprises choose the most stable place in the world for their employees to live. For example, companies planning to open a branch or office in another country can rely on the survey data and select a city that best meets the company's requirements for quality of life.