Auckland… a Great Place to Live!
Consistently one of the most popular destinations for new migrants, Auckland has been named one of the world’s “Best Cities To Live In” in an annual survey by Mercer Consultants. The survey puts Auckland behind only Vienna and Zurich out of 221 world cities on a composite of 39 factors.
The quality of life survey scored cities on their political stability, crime, banking and foreign exchange services as well as personal freedoms, medical services, international schools, infrastructure, restaurants and other leisure facilities, availability of consumer goods, rental housing and climate.
All the major cities in Australia and New Zealand (except Christchurch) rated perfect scores for housing because of their "attractive rental properties and prestigious residential districts".
Auckland and Wellington also received perfect scores for banking and foreign exchange services.
Auckland rated ahead of all other Australasian cities for medical services and health, which includes air pollution, sewage, waste disposal and infectious diseases.
It was also given near-perfect scores for availability of consumer goods and personal freedoms, in addition to scoring well in leisure facilities.
Sydney received the highest score in Australasia for education because of its "variety and reputation of available schools, whether German, French, Japanese or English-speaking".
Although the Mercer survey is designed for multinational executives, surveys of ordinary people have also found relatively high quality of life in New Zealand.
A study by Wellington research group Motu found the country ranked ninth out of 24 developed countries on the New Economics Foundation's "happy planet index" of life satisfaction, just ahead of Australia.