SOFIA RANKS LAST FOR QUALITY OF LIVING IN EU, MERCER SURVEY

Sofia is the worst to live in city in the European Union, data of the latest annual survey by Mercer consulting company on quality of living showed.

The survey included 231 cities from the world. Sofia is placed 116th, the last from all EU countries. The nearest in the ranking is Bucharest, placed 107th.

For the 8th year in a row, Vienna ranks highest for quality of living. The rest of the top-ten list is mostly filled by European cities: Zurich is in second place, Munich is in fourth, Dusseldorf is sixth, followed by Frankfurt (7), Geneva (8), Copenhagen (9), and Basel, a newcomer in the list, placed 10th, the survey says.

The two cities outside Europe which rank high in quality of living are New Zeland’s Aukland, placed third and Canada’s Vancouver placed fifth. The best cities to live in Asia and Latin America are Singapore (25th) and Montevideo (79th). Dubai (74th) continues to rank highest for quality of living across Africa and the Middle East, followed closely by Abu Dabi (79th).

Baghdad (230th) and Port au Prince (231th) rank last for city infrastructure.

The ranking was based on various criteria including political stability, business and social environment, healthcare, education, crime, transport and infrastructure.