Auckland ranks 3rd in Mercer Quality of Life Survey

On the same day Mayor Len Brown announced a 2.4% improvement on liveability measures, Auckland has been ranked third in an international quality of life survey, the only Southern Hemisphere city to appear in the top ten.

Auckland has jumped one place in the Mercer Quality of Life Survey, improving on its 4th place ranking given in 2010.

“Auckland is on track to becoming the world’s most liveable city,” says Len Brown. “We have produced our first annual scorecard, so we can measure the quality of living for all Aucklanders and the performance of our city by measures which are meaningful to our community.”

Creating healthy environments, developing strong communities, fixing transport, and building an economic powerhouse, form the basis of the Mayor’s vision for improving Auckland over the next 30 years.

“International indicators like this give us a global profile, and are proof of what Aucklanders already know; this is a fantastic city to live in,” says the Mayor.

Mercer’s global survey is based on an evaluation of 39 criteria for each city, grouped in 10 categories, including political and socio-economic environment, medical and health considerations, education, transport and housing. The survey covers 221 cities, which are compared to New York as the base city, measuring quality of life and working conditions for overseas expatriates.

Also appearing high on the list was Wellington in 13th place and Sydney, the next Asia-Pacific city after Auckland, in 11th place. Vienna is at the top of the list and Baghdad comes in at last place.

Len Brown says the result comes as welcome news to a city that has worked very hard over the past year.

“Auckland has had a unique opportunity to showcase itself internationally during 2011 and we have a lot to be proud of,” he says.

“Moving up a place on the scale is no small feat and I look forward to one day celebrating our place at the top of that list.”