Vienna world's best city to live in

According to the Worldwide Quality of Living Survey 2010 for 221 cities by HR consultancy Mercer, Vienna (Austria) topped the list of quality of living, followed by Switzerland’s Zurich and Geneva at second and third positions, respectively.Among other Indian cities on the list, Kolkata has been ranked  145th.

 Chennai was the only Indian city which saw a decline and is placed at 153rd rank. The report said the drop may be on account of many new cities being included in the overall study and not a direct reflection of the quality of living attributes in Chennai.

Vancouver (Canada) and Auckland (New Zealand) shared the fourth rank, followed by three German cities — Dusseldorf (sixth) and Frankfurt and Munich (both at seventh).
Switzerland capital Bern and Australia’s Sydney are placed   ninth and tenth on the global list of quality of living.

In Asia, Singapore, ranked  28th, top scored, followed by Japan’s Tokyo in the 40th slot.
Iraq capital Baghdad remains at the bottom of the list at 221st place this year as well, the survey noted.

Mercer has also compiled a “Eco-city Ranking 2010,” which is based on criteria like water availability, water potability, waste removal, sewage, air pollution and traffic congestion in the cities.

Indian cities did not fare well in the eco-city rankings either, with Bengalore ranked 198th, followed by Chennai (202), New Delhi (123), Mumbai (215) and Kolkata (218).
“We foresee eco-rankings focusing on attributes such as traffic congestion, water availability, air pollution and waste management, getting a lot more attention in the times to come,” Mercer Information Product Solutions (India business leader) Gangapriya Chakraverti said.