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mjs82
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05 Oct 2005, 2:45 am

Hello,

There have been several strings recently on Best Countries so on and so forth, so here I post an article I got off CNN.com. Being an Australian, perhaps a conceited one at that, it wasn't much of a suprise.

Melbourne, Vancouver top city list
Friday, October 4, 2002 Posted: 2:38 PM EDT (1838 GMT)

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Melbourne and Vancouver are the best cities in the world for expatriates to live in, according to a survey by the Economist Intelligence Unit.

Both Australia and Canada fared well in the survey, with the west Australian city of Perth ranking third, and Sydney, Brisbane and Adelaide tying in eighth place.

Toronto and Montreal also made the top 10, while Calgary was 16th. (Full list)

Port Moresby, the capital of Papua New Guinea came in last place, while the European Union was considered the best region to live just ahead of North America.

Conducted by the London-based EIU -- the business information arm of the Economist Group -- the survey assessed the level of hardship for expatriates in 130 cities.

It looked at 12 factors including housing, education, recreational activities and climate, rating every city on a five-point scale in each category, with five indicating extreme hardship.

Melbourne weather, notorious for providing four seasons in a single day was all that prevented it from receiving a perfect score of zero.

Port Moresby
On the other end of the scale, Port Moresby managed a hardship score of 80.

There, expatriates "must take extreme security precautions ... Education and health indicators are poor, corruption is rife and high humidity makes the climate oppressive all year round," the report said.

Rounding out the top ten cities were Vienna, Geneva and Zurich (all equal fourth) while Copenhagen, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt and Oslo were also equal eighth.

The Japanese cities of Osaka and Tokyo were the highest rated in Asia in equal 21st spot. Next best was Hong Kong in 44th place. The most livable mainland Chinese cities were Guangzhou and Shanghai at equal 73rd.

London was also rated 44th while Honolulu was the preferred U.S. city in equal 21st place. New York was ranked 52nd.

Middle East

Vancouver, home to around 2 million, and equal best city in the world



Regionally, the highest hardship was found in Africa and the Middle East, the report found.

The European Union was the least affected by hardship, but North America was also "a good place to live."

"Despite the increased fear of terrorism and high levels of violent crime in some cities, the United States and Canada have fairly low hardship ratings thanks to a highly developed infrastructure, good education and health indicators and the widespread availability of recreational activities," the survey said.

The EIU report found a clear gap between west and east European cities, while hardship in Asia and Australasia also was grouped in two extremes.

Compared with the low hardship ratings in Australia and also parts of Asia, the region was home to cities where expatriates encountered severe hardship, the survey found.

The Pakistani port city of Karachi received the second highest hardship rating of 74, the Indian cities of New Delhi and Mumbai scored 62 and 57 respectively, while the Indonesian capital Jakarta polled a high 56 coming in 119th place.

Elsewhere in Asia, Bangkok scored 45, Manila 47, Colombo 52, Hanoi 54, Ho Chi Minh 55, Phnom Penh 70 and Dhaka 71.

The list in full

1. (tie) Melbourne, Australia

1. Vancouver, Canada

3. Perth, Australia

4. (tie) Vienna, Austria

4. Toronto, Canada

4. Geneva, Switzerland

4. Zurich, Switzerland

8. (tie) Adelaide, Australia

8. Brisbane, Australia

8. Sydney,Australia

8. Copenhagen, Denmark

8. Dusseldorf, Germany

8. Frankfurt, Germany

8. Oslo, Norway

8. Montreal, Canada

16. (tie) Calgary, Canada

16. Helsinki, Finland

16. Stockholm, Sweden

19. (tie) Berlin, Germany

19. Amsterdam, Netherlands

21. (tie) Tokyo, Japan

21. Osaka, Japan

21. Honolulu, Hawaii

24. (tie) Hamburg, Germany

24. Munich, Germany

24. Auckland, New Zealand

24. Wellington, New Zealand

28. (tie) Brussels, Belgium

28. Reykjavik, Iceland

28. Luxembourg, Luxembourg

28. Boston, Massachusetts

32. (tie) Lyon, France

32. Paris, France

34. (tie) Barcelona, Spain

34. Atlanta, Georgia

34. Chicago, Illinois

34. Lexington, Kentucky

34. Miami, Florida

39. (tie) Cleveland, Ohio

39. Houston, Texas

39. Los Angeles, California

39. Minneapolis, Minnesota

39. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

44. (tie) Hong Kong, China

44. Lisbon, Portugal

44. Madrid, Spain

44. London, England

44. San Francisco, California

49. Seattle, Washington

50. (tie) Singapore

50. Manchester, England

52. (tie) Dublin, Ireland

52. New York, New York

54. (tie) Milan, Italy

54. Detroit, Michigan

54. Budapest, Hungary

57. (tie) Prague, Czech Republic

57. Rome, Italy

57. Washington, D.C.

60. Taipei, Taiwan

61. Seoul, South Korea

62. (tie) San Juan, Puerto Rico

62. San Jose, Costa Rica

64. (tie) Athens, Greece

64. Montevideo, Uruguay

66. Santiago, Chile

67. Buenos Aires, Argentina

68. Dubai, UAE

69. (tie) Tel Aviv, Israel

69. Warsaw, Poland

71. (tie) Zagreb, Croatia

71. Abu Dhabi, UAE

73. (tie) Guangzhou, China

73. Shanghai, China

75. (tie) Panama City, Panama

75. Amman, Jordan

77. (tie) Bahrain, Bahrain

77. Beijing, China

77. Shenzhen, China

77. Moscow, Russia

81. Pretoria, South Africa

82. (tie) Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

82. St. Petersburg, Russia

84. Tianjin, China

85. (tie) Sao Paulo, Brazil

85. Kiev, Ukraine

87. (tie) Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

87. Lima, Peru

87. Istanbul, Turkey

87. Kuwait, Kuwait

87. Tashkent, Uzbekistan

87. Tunis, Tunisia

93. (tie) Quito, Ecuador

93. Johannesburg, South Africa

93. Bucharest, Romania

96. (tie) Asuncion, Paraguay

96. Casablanca, Morocco

98. Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei

99. (tie) Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

99. Baku, Azerbaijan

101. (tie) Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia

101. Bangkok, Thailand

101. Caracas, Venezuela

101. Tripoli, Libya

105. (tie) Guatemala, Guatemala

105. Mexico City, Mexico

105. Manila, Philippines

105. Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

105. Belgrade, Yugoslavia

105. Harare, Zimbabwe

111. Cairo, Egypt

112. Libreville, Gabon

113. Colombo, Sri Lanka

114. Douala, Cameroon

115. (tie) Hanoi, Vietnam

115. Bogota, Colombia

115. Nairobi, Kenya

118. Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam

119. (tie) Jakarta, Indonesia

119. Tehran, Iran

121. New Delhi, India

122. Dakar, Senegal

123. Abidjan, Ivory Coast

124. Mumbai, India

125. Algiers, Algeria

126. Phnom Penh, Cambodia

127. (tie) Dhaka, Bangladesh

127. Lagos, Nigeria

129. Karachi, Pakistan

130. Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea



Sean
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05 Oct 2005, 2:58 am

Wow. L.A. same in 7th last among US cities. How did it do that well? It must have been the weather. That's about the only thing this area has going for it. Houston should have done better, but last I heard, they had a pro-illegal alien mayor that let them cause a crime wave (sic) make a bario out of the place.



danlo
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05 Oct 2005, 6:52 am

Yay for Perth, and yay for Australia!
Perth rocks.



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05 Oct 2005, 2:13 pm

My vote goes for Amsterdam. It has a wonderfully tolerant and sane attitude to everything except cars, which are kept out of sight. I could just wander round it on foot for weeks and not get bored.



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05 Oct 2005, 2:25 pm

Seouls my favorite city that Ive ever visited, its like a wealthier New York City (though Im sure theres still parts you dont want to go to.) Tokyo wasnt bad either.


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larsenjw92286
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05 Oct 2005, 2:55 pm

I'm glad that Seattle made the list.


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Sarcastic_Name
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05 Oct 2005, 4:11 pm

How'd Miami get on that list?! :evil: FLORIDA IS OVER-RATED!! !


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nirrti_rachelle
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05 Oct 2005, 6:30 pm

Sarcastic_Name wrote:
How'd Miami get on that list?! :evil: FLORIDA IS OVER-RATED!! !


Miami!? 8O I'd pick New Orleans after hurricane Katrina over that crime wave that calls itself a city. :roll:


Quote:
Houston should have done better, but last I heard, they had a pro-illegal alien mayor that let them cause a crime wave (sic) make a bario out of the place


And Sean.....
I'm for free speech as much as anyone else but your racist remarks make people of color feel unwelcome on WP as they experience enough prejudice IRL without encountering it on a site that's supposed to be supportive of all aspies.

That said, if you continue to make statements against particular ethnic groups, I will report you to one of the Mods as that is as offensive as foul language (which is not allowed) so I don't see why racist remarks shouldn't be considered, if not more so, as repulsive.


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kevv729
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11 Oct 2005, 10:01 pm

1. Rapid City, South Dakota :

This is the BEST SMALL CITY.

That is my Vote.



Sean
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12 Oct 2005, 3:25 am

nirrti_rachelle wrote:
And Sean.....
I'm for free speech as much as anyone else but your racist remarks make people of color feel unwelcome on WP as they experience enough prejudice IRL without encountering it on a site that's supposed to be supportive of all aspies.

That said, if you continue to make statements against particular ethnic groups, I will report you to one of the Mods as that is as offensive as foul language (which is not allowed) so I don't see why racist remarks shouldn't be considered, if not more so, as repulsive.

Maybe you should look up what the mayor of Houston did in anticipation of the 2000 cencus before you start accusing me of racism.

If you want to report me to the mods for something, the line forms around the corner to the right. :P