The 23 cities with the best quality of life in the world -- and not a single one in the USA.

[eridani]

http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/2/23/1489781/-The-23-cities-with-the-best-quality-of-life-in-the-world-and-not-a-single-one-in-the-USA

Looking at 450 cities across the world, Mercer takes into account the following metrics to judge which cities made the list for the best quality of life:

Political and social environment (political stability, crime, law enforcement)
Economic environment (currency-exchange regulations, banking services)
Socio-cultural environment (media availability and censorship, limitations on personal freedom)
Medical and health considerations (medical supplies and services, infectious diseases, sewage, waste disposal, air pollution)
Schools and education (standards and availability of international schools)
Public services and transportation (electricity, water, public transportation, traffic congestion)
Recreation (restaurants, theatres, cinemas, sports and leisure)
Consumer goods (availability of food/daily consumption items, cars)
Housing (rental housing, household appliances, furniture, maintenance services)
Natural environment (climate, record of natural disasters)

[Recursion]

1. Vienna was definitely the best city I've ever lived in

Racist as hell, but other than that it's great.

[RichGirl]

13. I totally disagree....

I was born in Austria...have family there...been back many times. No indication of racism. In fact, in Austria and Germany there is a lot of interracial marriage. They don't have a lot of black people, especially in small towns, but they aren't trying to keep them out.

[Bluenorthwest]

14. Never lived in Vienna but I agree on both counts, I was there as a child and heard antisemitic

verbiage so intense that I won't even type it here. Changed my worldview for all time, this conversation overheard at the Park Hotel Schonbrunn, which back then had a very Grand Budapest Hotel feel to it.

[elleng]

30. Not surprised.

Did visit there, and enjoyed 'culture' and public transport, but definitely wary.

[a la izquierda]

2. Having been to six of the cities...

I can concur that I'd rather live in a few of them as opposed to most anywhere in the US (and I've lived all over the US).
Hell, I'd rather live in Mexico City than almost anywhere in the US (it's my favorite city on the planet).

[Lodestar]

3. Greeeeen Acres is the place to be. Faaaarm livin' is the life for me

Land spreadin' out so far and wide
Keep Manhattan, just give me that countryside.


Not a city dweller and glad of it.

[pipoman]

42. lol...35 years ago I purchased my first piece of real estate..

I wrote..."green acre is the place for me, near farm living is the life for me, land stretching out 210 feet long and wide, keep the city and give me my double wide." On my party notice.... (I haven't lived there since 1993)

[ShrimpPoboy]

49. It's a very personal preference to be sure

But I'm with you. There are thousands of small towns I would rather live in than any city on this list. To each his own.

[BeyondGeography]

4. Europe is filled with so many gems

My wife is from the Bodensee in SW Germany. I have a religious attachment to Constance, a beautiful small city on the lake. She takes it somewhat for granted and thinks I exaggerate. Then we come back to NY and she realizes I'm not nuts.

[clarice]

5. And yet...people risk their lives to come HERE. What a pile of $%^%$ that article is. nt

[eridani]

6. Poor people risk their lives to come here

Being the home of cheap labor is nothing to be proud of.

[hobbit709]

8. I doubt very many in those cities want to come here.

Most people risking their lives to come here are coming from places that are worse off than we are.

[RichGirl]

15. You are right about that!

To Europeans, the US is a nice place to visit, but wouldn't want to live here. You don't even realize how dirty US cities are until you've been to Europe.

And we have the only healthcare system in the world based on profit. Yes, big companies making money off of people suffering. You think drug companies are more concerned about people OR their bottom line.

In Austria, Switzerland...you go into a coffee shop and outside the door, on the sidewalk, is a row of strollers...WITH BABIES IN THEM. They don't have to worry about their children being kidnapped. Here, if you lose track of your child for one second at Target, you panic.

[clarice]

20. And yet I don't see anyone breaking down the door to get out of America. nt

[tabasco]

25. Is that what you've been told?

http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2008/07/28/a-growing-trend-of-leaving-america

I'll be leaving as soon as I can.

[clarice]

33. bye. nt

[LanternWaste]

34. Swing and a miss.

I'd leave a petulant response too, neither addressing nor adding anything of substance should my premise be illustrated as inaccurate.

Swing and a miss.

[clarice]

38. Was that English? nt

[Maru Kitteh]

62. If you need a big-kid's dictionary they are available on Amazon

Free shipping if you have Prime!



http://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/0877796793?keywords=big%20kids%20dictionary&qid=1456592817&ref_=sr_1_7&sr=8-7

[clarice]

63. Alright !!!!! A new player !!!!! Out to test Clarice.

Hi Maru, congratulations

I remember how thrilled I was when I first learned how to cut and paste.
It opened up a whole new world to me. I did it constantly..cut...paste...
cut...paste. And like you, I sometimes did it in an annoying, inappropriate manner.

So, let's try to reign it in just a tad. We all know how pleased you are with yourself,
and WE"RE all proud of you too.

[muriel_volestrangler]

64. Your reply #38 indicates you aren't very proficient in English

because you couldn't recognise it.

#34 did have an implied "that was a..." before "swing and a miss", but, apart from that, it's all good, grammatical English. Your own posts sometimes imply a verb that would be needed to complete a sentence - eg #48 &quot I am) curious ...".

I don't think you're in any position to start criticising others' posts as "annoying" or "inappropriate" when several of your replies in this thread are like that, and you have notably ignored posts that provide numbers that show you are mistaken.

[clarice]

65. Why thank you Muriel... I will try to post gooder English in the future. lol

[awoke_in_2003]

41. Had I the money...

I'd be gone. Emigration is not that cheap or easy.

[clarice]

48. curious....where would you go? nt

[awoke_in_2003]

50. Denmark or Sweden...

They are the most atheist friendly.

[clarice]

54. I'm sure that it is beautiful there....but look at these tax rates !!!!!!!!!!

corporate individual (max) payroll Sales (vat)

Sweden 22% 31% 59.7%. 31.42% 25% 12% or 6% (depending on where you work)

[awoke_in_2003]

56. And yet

they consistently rank at the top of the happiness charts. Taxes are part of living in a society. I would rather the majority of my taxes pay for the general welfare than bombing the living hell out of anyone not big enough to defend themselves.

[clarice]

57. Like Libya?.lol nt

[closeupready]

53. Correct. You need a trust fund because the best jobs are generally

reserved only for national citizens.

[HooptieWagon]

51. Most of those nice countries have very restricted immigration.

[clarice]

55. That's probable why they are so nice. nt

[pampango]

58. Not really. The foreign-born population in the US is 13.1%. In Germany it is 12.8%.

Canada: 20.0%
Australia: 27.6%
Sweden: 16.0%
Belgium: 15.5%
Switzerland: 28.3%
New Zealand: 28.2%
Netherlands: 11.6%
Denmark: 8.5%
Austria 16.7%

https://data.oecd.org/migration/foreign-born-population.htm

Restricted immigration is not typical of these high-ranking countries; quite the opposite. Their high rankings come from other causes than immigration policy.

[clarice]

39. Ah... so the rich are happy where they are. Got it. nt

[Lydia Leftcoast]

43. Minnesota used to attract a lot of immigrants from Scandinaiva, Ireland, and Germanty

No longer.

Now they're mostly from Latin America, Southeast Asia, and Africa. Poor and/or war-torn countries.

I know some immigrants from Europe, but they all came forty or more years ago, came to take a specific job, or happened to marry an American.

Your notion that "everyone" wants to come here is WAY out of date.

[malaise]

9. Which people?

You mean mostly the poor.

[RichGirl]

18. Oddly...

It would be the poor or the rich (wannabees) who would come here....not so much the middle class. Like Arnold Schwarzenegger...more opportunity for fame and fortune here.

[clarice]

40. Yes... the foreign 1 % are happy where they are. nt

[muriel_volestrangler]

17. But the net migration rate to the USA is not particularly high

Here's the net migration rate (ie per 1,000 inhabitants) for 2005-10 for countries and areas: http://data.un.org/Data.aspx?d=PopDiv&f=variableID%3A85

For the USA, and the countries with a city in that list of 23:

Luxembourg 17.512
Australia 10.648
Switzerland 9.052
Canada 7.542
Belgium 6.313
Sweden 5.702
Austria 3.834
United States of America 3.424
Denmark 3.209
New Zealand 2.936
Netherlands 0.677
Germany 0.012

[Javaman]

19. it's a matter of degrees...

moving from a war zone or from an obvious dictatorship to the U.S. is a step up...but only one step.

[KamaAina]

29. News flash: Most of the people fleeing Syria are heading for Europe.

[former9thward]

36. Because that is closest and easiest.

Sorta hard to take a row boat across the Atlantic.

[The2ndWheel]

7. No French cities. No Italian cities either.

Nothing in Japan. A bunch of pictures of white people having fun. A pretty white woman with beer in the first picture. And 23 seems to be an odd number. Usually it's top 10, 20, 25, 50, that kind of thing.

[BeyondGeography]

11. Three very diverse Canadian cities on that list

I noticed the absence of France as well, which surprised me a little; Italy not so much. I'm sure the ratings reflect in no small part levels of investment that been made in infrastructure. We suck in that department.

[The2ndWheel]

21. It's funny what pictures they chose for those Canadian cities

Just some buildings. Same thing for some of the other cities, they didn't use a picture of diversity. Not even a picture of people.

An issue with these rating systems is that you can make numbers say whatever you want. It just depends on which ones you use, and what you want to say. Then of course there's the fact that everyone can't go live in these cities. Make all other cities like those cities then. Which is far easier said than done. Every city deals with different variables that help or hinder doing this or that.

Europe is compact because of timing. The same way eastern US cities/states are smaller and more dense than western US cities/states. The east coast was settled first. Europe has older cities than the US. People left Europe decades and centuries ago. People came to the US decades and centuries ago. Those European centers of power had nowhere left to expand in Europe, and then found "open" land in the US to continue on expanding.

[BeyondGeography]

24. Great points

It is all about space usage, the supply of space and the other-worldly range of options we have had here. I think cities have a great future in this country, mostly because they are popular with younger people once again. They're fun, efficient and they make sense. But I think the best places will be the under-the-radar towns that aren't too expensive. New York, e.g., is cleaner and safer than it used to be but its heart has been torn out by the housing market. Rents in Europe, on the other hand, are still fairly reasonable in comparison, even in a place like Paris. And there are all sorts of other things that support an affordable lifestyle there like transportation subsidies and lower food costs.

I grew up in the post-white flight 70s when the suburbs were the future and truly horrid decisions were made about downtowns. That's another thing that never dragged down Europe's cities (even if they weren't totally unscathed by the dreary architecture of the age). Nor do they face the equivalent of the anti-urban bias of Congress which regularly kills infrastructure upgrades in our older cities.

[RichGirl]

16. You can't make a judgement unless you've been there.

I've been in most European countries. I love France and Italy, but they aren't as clean and not nearly as friendly as the countries on the list. In fact, the French are very rude. At a restaurant, my daughter was looking at the menu with the waiter standing there. The waiter actually jabbed her arm because she wasn't ordering fast enough. They always include the tip on the bill. Pretty sure they wouldn't get a tip otherwise!

[The2ndWheel]

23. I'm just saying those countries aren't on the list either

Not assigning any value really. In an odd top 23 list, how many other countries don't have cities on that list? It's not like it was just the US. That's all.

What are the scores of these cities? What's the difference between them? What's the scale? Tenths of a percentage point? 50% difference between 10 and 30? What's the difference between #23 and #103?

[Vinca]

10. 3 Canadian cities. So close and yet so far . . .

[pampango]

12. "The top cities are all in Canada, Europe or Oceania (Australia and New Zealand)."

You can read the list of the top 23 here, but there’s a disturbing trend — for Americans, at least — and that is that not a single city in the United States ranks as a top city.

The top cities are all in Canada, Europe or Oceania (Australia and New Zealand).

The United States of America can do so much better. But only if we elect a leader who believes the United States is capable of transforming itself into a more humane and prosperous country — with cities reflecting that reality.

Ahhh but republicans don't want us to be like 'socialist' Europe, Canada or Oceania.

[GOLGO 13]

22. I would love to get the fuck out of the US upon retirement.

Kids can adapt easier than the rest of us. The wife is open if I can make the case for it. She'll insist on going to work.

[KamaAina]

26. Here's what sank us

Medical and health considerations (medical supplies and services, infectious diseases, sewage, waste disposal, air pollution)
Schools and education (standards and availability of international schools)
Public services and transportation (electricity, water, public transportation, traffic congestion)

[EdwardBernays]

27. I've travelled extensively in Europe

And Germany is definitely a place with an extremely high standard of living...

[HassleCat]

28. Great news!

We do not allow the heavy hand of gummit to impose upon our freedoms by forcing us to live in cities with low crime, affordable housing, mass transit, etc. No! We are free 'Murkins! We are free to sit in gridlock traffic and think about how we're going to afford a visit to the doctor. None of that Euro Socialism stuff for us, Hell NO!

[hifiguy]

31. Never been to Auckland except the airport, but Wellington

is the place I would live if I could live anywhere. I spent most of a week there back in '04. Gorgeous city, nce weather, mellow pace of life, friendly natives that speak English. Mind-roasting wine country a short drive away.

As close to paradise as I can imagine

[Lizzie Poppet]

32. I'd have once argued vehemently for my city, Portland...

...but the housing situation here disqualifies us, IMO. Double-digit increases in average rents for several years running...it's horrible (and untenable).

I'd never even consider living elsewhere (despite the painful reality of being "discovered" and the resultant fuckery). But without a handle on the horrific housing costs situation, it's hard to consider my beloved P-Town to be one of the world's best cities any more.

[former9thward]

37. I grew up in Portland and revisit about once a year.

The traffic and parking get worse every year.

[LittleBlue]

35. Then why is the rest of the world trying to live in our cities?

Britain has something like 700k expats living here, but we only have about 200k living over there. Canada has more expats living here than we have living there, and we're 10x larger. Meaning a Canadian is 10x more likely to choose to live here than one of ours to live there. Australia, another country that dominates these Euro-centric rankings, has 4x as many living here as we have living there despite being about 1/12 the population.

Russians are the same way. They pick the US over even EU countries.

We must be doing something right if everyone, whether from the developed or undeveloped world, wants to live here.

The truth is that immigrants make their decisions differently from the Scandinavian euro elite. They don't look at things like tiny differences in crime statistics. They look at salaries, housing sizes, buying a car. They don't want to pay $5 for a gallon of gasoline and not own a car, like most Europeans. They don't want to live in 100-year-old housing in cramped quarters in Europe. Go look at how most French, Brits and Germans live. Better housing in West Virginia. New Zealand is practically a backwater. Beautiful, but on the fringes of civilization. Scandinavia, yeah. You better like 50 degree summers and learning a language that practically nobody outside those countries know.

People want to live in a free country where they have the disposable income to afford nice in things in large quantities. Can't do that in Europe.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

44. I would have moved to Europe or Canada or Japan in 2000, but

their entrance requirements are stricter than ours. For one thing, I was already "too old" to be considered a desirable immigrant (most places prefer people under 35).

Furthermore, a lot of Americans BELIEVE that they live in the greatest country on earth and have never been anywhere else, so they believe all the hype.

By the way, your characterization of life in Europe is pretty strange. You're assuming that everyone wants a trophy house on a two-acre lot with three cars in the driveway. You're assuming that all European countries are the same.

My college friend who moved to Norway in the 1970s does not own a car, and she likes it that way. She also likes getting six weeks of paid vacation (four weeks for everyone, one week for being a civil servant, and one week for being over 60), the fact that she didn't pay a cent for being hospitalized and in physical therapy for months after an injury, and being well-off enough to own a very well-appointed vacation home in the mountains with her gentleman friend. Since this was the first time I had seen her since she visited the states in 1985, I asked how her parents had reacted when they realized that she was going to stay in Norway permanently.

"They were really upset," she said, "until they visited me. They told me that they now realized that I had a better quality of life in Norway than I could hope to achieve in the States."

When I was in Stockholm, I attended services at the English-speaking Anglican church. At coffee hour, they told me that they have to go to the former Soviet Union to do their charitable work, because so few people fall through the safety net.

Everywhere I went, people spoke English, and most also speak a second foreign language. At the beginning of the trip, I started every interaction with "Snakker du engelsk?" ("Do you speak English?&quot , but nearly everyone did, so I stopped asking. The young counter clerks in particular gave me the teenage eye roll when I asked if they spoke English.

Yes, the countries have their own problems, a lot of alcoholism, but that is common in all far northern areas, including Alaska, Canada, and Russia.

I suppose if you require a large house with a big yard and a big car to be happy, then you belong in the States.

[area51]

46. Thanks, interesting. n/t

[octoberlib]

47. I know tons of Brits who live in Charlotte.

Every single one of them was transferred here through their job. It sure as hell isn't the superior quality of life that brought them here.

[burrowowl]

45. K&R!!!!!!

[closeupready]

52. Having lived abroad, yes, lot's of places outside the US seem better, but

for most people not on trust funds, you have to WORK, and finding work as an American in France or Austria or Japan or Australia is easier said than done, unless you are looking to work illegally.

[eridani]

59. And their immigration policies are far more restrictive than ouis to boot

Still, I think the point of the OP was what cities did for their own residents.

[pampango]

60. Actually they have more liberal immigration policies than the US.

See post 58 above.

I think the point of the OP was what cities did for their own residents.

I agree. The important thing is what they do for their residents, regardless of where their residents were born.

[GOLGO 13]

66. In Japan all you need

Is a work visa and pass the Japanese-Language Proficiency Test at N2 level and your legally good to go. Other things like health insurance, a Jap. bank account, etc. is all on you.

[bigwillq]

61. 'Merica.

We all should be so proud.