KL and JB among top 20 Asian cities for quality of life: Survey

PETALING JAYA (March 13): Kuala Lumpur (pictured) and Johor Bahru have retained their rankings for quality of life in Asia at 10th and 12th, respectively, said a survey.

This also means that KL is placed second spot in Southeast Asia behind Singapore, according to the Mercer Quality of Living City Ranking 2019 survey.

On the global scale, KL is at No 85 and Johor Bahru No 101.

“In Asia, Singapore (25) has the highest quality of living in the region, followed by the five Japanese cities of Tokyo (49), Kobe (49), Yokohama (55), Osaka (58), and Nagoya (62), and then Hong Kong (71) and Seoul (77), which rose two places this year as political stability returned following the arrest of its president last year,” the survey said.

In South Asia, New Delhi is placed at 162, “Mumbai (154) and Bengaluru (149) remained unchanged from last year’s ranking for overall quality of living, with Colombo (138) topping the ranking. In 105th place, Chennai ranks as the region’s safest city, while Karachi (226) is the least safe,” it said.

In Europe, Vienna is at the top, Zurich second and Munich third. All three cities also clocked in the same rankings on the global scale.

Munich shares the overall third place with Vancouver (Canada) and Auckland (New Zealand)

In the Middle East, Dubai (74) continues to rank highest for quality of living, followed by Abu Dhabi (78), but Sana’a (229) and Baghdad (231) are among the poorest performers in the region. 

In South America, Montevideo (78) is ranked highest, while continued political turmoil kicked Caracas (202) down nine spots.

The Mercer survey evaluates local living conditions in more than 450 cities worldwide. Living conditions are analysed according to 39 factors in 10 categories.