Quality of life survey

Jan 20, 2000
By Brooke Donald

The survey by William M. Mercer Companies evaluated the cities on
the basis of 39 quality of living criteria, including political,
economic and environmental factors; personal safety; and health,
education, transport and other public services.

Tallinn scored 78 along with the South Pacific city of Noumea. Riga
and Vilnius tied at 82. Cities were ranked with New York as the base
with a score of 100.

The top four cities - all with a score of 106 and three in Western
Europe - are Vancouver, Zurich, Vienna and Bern. Tallinn's closest
neighbor, Helsinki, tied with Amsterdam both scoring 104.5, placing
the two cities in the list's top 10.

The survey points out differences between Western and Eastern
European countries, but concludes that the gap is narrowing. The
Eastern European countries that show up near the bottom of the list
score poorly mainly because of issues of political instability,
personal safety and health.

The aim of the survey - which is conducted annually - is to provide
an objective, consistent and comprehensive evaluation of the
differences in quality of living in any two cities, and is used by
governments to assist in policy making, according to a company
statement.

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