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Toronto ranks 15th in global city survey
TheStar.com - News - Toronto ranks 15th in global city survey

Vancouver rates 3rd internationally and tops in Canada in annual review of 215 urban areas

April 02, 2007

Toronto is the second-best city in Canada to live in, according to a global survey released today.

For the second year in a row, Toronto ranks 15th among cities around the world in overall quality of life, according to the annual review by Mercer Human Resource Consulting, which operates in 40 nations.

Vancouver is the best place to reside in Canada, the survey says, ranking third in the world – just behind the Swiss cities of Zurich and Geneva. Other Canadian cities in the survey were Ottawa at 18th internationally, Montreal at 22nd and Calgary at 24th.

"Generally speaking, Canadian cities did really well," Danielle Bushen, a principal at Mercer in Toronto, told the Star's Joanna Smith.

Toronto's traffic and muggy summers with poor air quality played a role in its ranking. The city placed 21st internationally in the category of health and sanitation.

"There are a significant number of days in Toronto, particularly in the summer time, when there are air quality advisories. So while overall quality of life is great, in that one area Toronto rates a little bit lower," Bushen said.

The survey rated 215 cities around the world based on 39 quality-of-life determinants including social, economic, environmental and safety factors.

Cities were ranked against New York as the base city, which was given a score of 100. The survey gave Vancouver a score of 107.7, tied with Vienna.

Toronto had a rating of 105.4. It also finished 15th last year in the Mercer survey, up one place from 2005.

Vancouver had high scores across the board – finishing third in the world for the third straight year – but its weak spot was crime, Bushen said.

The B.C. city's strong showing follows a foul winter last year that saw storms knock out electricity in many parts of Vancouver for days and forced residents to drink bottled water for weeks.

Still, Vancouver's generally mild climate helps it rank highly every year, though on important issues like "access to financial services, stability of the political system, medical care and personal freedom ... Toronto and Vancouver are essentially the same," Bushen said.

"Somebody's got to come out on top."

The five Canadian cities in the survey all ranked higher than any of the U.S. cities surveyed.

Bushen said the frigid Canadian winters do count against Calgary, Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto, but for the most part they are stable and safe places to live. Another factor in Canadian cities' favour, Bushen said, is that they "are generally cheap on a cost-of-living basis."

Honolulu was the highest-ranked U.S. city at 27th.

Baghdad was ranked the world's least enticing city with a score of 14.5.

All the Canadian cities in the survey also appeared in the top 25 ranking for health and sanitation with Calgary ranking as the top city in the world.

CANADIAN PRESS

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