Auckland and Wellington both earned places in the top 20 of the world’s best cities in the 2003 global quality of life survey.
Ranked on 39 determinants ranging from the political and social to housing, natural environment, public services (including transportation) and consumer goods, New Zealand and Australian cities are all seen as good places to be.
Auckland shares fifth place with Sydney, Copenhagen, Frankfurt and Bern with rating of 105 while Wellington earns 103.5 rating putting it in 15th place.
Folk in Christchurch and Dunedin needn’t feel aggrieved – they didn’t make the cut of 215 cities included in the Mercer Human Resource Consulting Survey.
Top city overall was Zurich, least appealing (at the time of the survey) was Brazzaville, closely chased by Bangui in Central Africa and Baghdad.
Safety wise, Japan and Switzerland both ranked highly; New Zealand and Wellington level-pegging at 25th outscored Aussie cities.