Zurich has the best quality of life in the world...

[imported_Tango]

http://news.ft.com/cms/s/b306640e-c82a-11da-a377-0000779e2340.html

The study conducted by Mercer Human Resource Consulting ranked cities on the basis of personal safety, health and education facilities, transport, other public services, social, economic, environmental and political factors. New York with a score of 100 was used as a base line.

 

[ntdz]

I believe it...

 

[fitzov]

Truly awesome city that looks like something out of Dr. Suess with its narrow, windy roads. The pay is extraordinarilly high also. There are three dominant languages in the city. The food is great as well as the chocolate.

 

[CessnaFlyer]

It's because they don't have 12 million illegal Mexicans!

 

[glenn1]

Having just been in Geneva a couple weeks ago, I can say for certain that the "quality of life" rankings must not consider "boring as hell" a reason to lose points. I think Innsbruck, Austria should have been higher on the list as well, it's not even in the top 50.

 

[Stunt]

I guess hard drugs and hookers rank high on that list...go Vancouver!!

...oh wait, that's not fair...they have less hookers and bums because the cops take money from them to pay for cab rides out of the city.

 

[glenn1]

I guess hard drugs and hookers rank high on that list...go Vancouver!!

Or maybe the rainbow flag banner on every other streetlight pole pushed you over the top j/k, I really like Vancouver, and Granville Island is a gem. Put your location together with some Newfie music and you'd have the #1 ranking in a heartbeat....

 

[Stunt]

Newfie music??...ack. The only reason newfies are so fun is because they are unemployed and drunk.

I agree, Vancouver is gorgeous...lived there for 12 years (more than half my life). Would move back if I had job prospects.

 

[dmcowen674]

Originally posted by: CessnaFlyer
It's because they don't have 12 million illegal Mexicans!

I AM AMERICAN!!!

MY ANCESTORS FOLLOWED THE RULES TO BE HERE AND BE LEGAL AND EVERYONE ELSE SHOULD DO THE SAME DAMN THING!!!

You are the minority, get with the program.

You heard the Republicans, the illegal mexicans take the jobs no american wants and make life better in the U.S.

Zurich obviously bought out the study, the U.S. has to be the best place with so many illegals contributing so much.

 

[Kirby]

i love switzerland. i visited lucerne, and it was gorgeous.

 

[fornax]

While I agree that Zurich is a very nice city (but the small towns around it are much nicer!), I find the ranking of most cities hard to believe. Vancouver in 3rd place? Give me a break! If Vancouver was just Point Grey and Kitsilano, I might agree. Prague in the 73rd place? I would rate it way ahead of most American and Canadian cities. Then I saw Moscow in 173 place, just about where Abijan is. Let's see, there is virtual civil war in Nigeria, no security, no medical care, chaos and killings. While most of Russia is a horrid dump, Moscow is rather a nice city, with a quality of life rivaling, I'd say, New York (but still behind most big European cities except Amsterdam, maybe). This survey reminded me why one should not take such surveys seriously.

 

[frankie38]

Quote "New York with a score of 100 was used as a base line." Ironic isn't it that they use NY as a benchmark.

Well. I dont need a survey to tell me that whenever I come home from travelling overseas that I want to kiss the floor of JFK airport.

I am proud to be an American and a New Yawker....

 

[Mean MrMustard]

Originally posted by: frankie38
...I want to kiss the floor of JFK airport...

A buddy of mine said the same thing until he picked up herpes.

 

[imported_Tango]

Originally posted by: frankie38
Quote "New York with a score of 100 was used as a base line." Ironic isn't it that they use NY as a benchmark.

Well. I dont need a survey to tell me that whenever I come home from travelling overseas that I want to kiss the floor of JFK airport.

I am proud to be an American and a New Yawker....

They took NY as a benchmark because the study was made in order to be used by american companies relocating people abroad. It makes sense to use NY as a standard, cause most people have some kind of knowledge of how life is in NY.

 

[chcarnage]

I feel flattered But I have a hard time thinking of an infrastructure with room for improvement. From public transportation to recycling and garbage collection, it just works (tm). Apparently there's everything the average businessman needs here. Then again this was an evaluation for businesses and shouldn't be an advisor for those who want to travel in their spare time. Ljubljana, ranked 80th, may not be that attractive for international companies but I really enjoyed the days I spent there.

Contrary to fitzov's belief we speak only one language in Zurich - German - but most citizens are fluent in one or more other languages, too. It is however correct that Switzerland is divided into a German, French and Italian speaking part. I can't speak for Geneva because it's been a while since I've been there but I consider Zurich to be far, far from boring

I've linked some everyday photos from Zurich in a thread from last winter but I took them off my webspace when the thread sunk like a rock in the big sea of ATOT, but I put them up again in case anybody is interested: Text - I intend to write some things about Zurich and other locations in GTaudiophile's European travel guide but so far I lack the time to do it in an elaborate way, sorry folks.