Hyderabad emerges as the city with the best quality of living

Source: Times of India  Dt: 15.3.2017

Hyderabad has been ranked as the top Indian city in the quality of living ranking, for the third year in a row, as per Mercer's Quality of Living rankings 2017. For the second year in a row, according to the study, New Delhi continues to be ranked lowest, with scores remaining constant.
 

Both Hyderabad and Pune cities rank higher for quality of living than the country's more traditional business centres, Mumbai and New Delhi ranked at 154 and 161, respectively, as per the report.
 

Globally, Vienna occupies first place for overall quality of living for the 8th year running, with the rest of the top-ten list mostly filled by European cities -- Zurich (2), Munich (4), Dusseldorf (6), Frankfurt (7), Geneva (8), Copenhagen (9), and Basel (10).

The only non-European cities in the top ten are Auckland (3) and Vancouver (5). The highest ranking cities in Asia and Latin America are Singapore (25) and Montevideo (79), respectively.

"The survey highlights that Indian cities that have been part of the survey haven't made much progress on the quality of living scale since last year ", noted Ruchika Pal, Principal and India Practice Leader, Global Mobility. The report said the only exception is Chennai, whose score has marginall y improved mainly on account of public transport, including buses and a recently expanded two-line metro system, and improved availability of expat housing.

Interestingly, Hyderabad has slipped five ranks from 139 last year to 144, on account of decreased power supply and water availability. On the positive side, the city continues to score high, in comparison with other surveyed Indian cities, on account of lower crime rate.

On the other hand, while New Delhi scores well on account of its airport facility, availability of international schools and low probability of natural disasters, the positives are outweighed by a variety of negatives including a 'notorious' crime rate, air pollution and water availability.

"Delhi continues to be challenged with increasing air pollution, contributed by growing traffic and industrialization in the city. Delhi's air is the worst among world megacities, even the World Health Organisation (WHO) confirmed recently. Unfortunately, there has been no improvement in air quality" said Pal.