Quality of life, not to be confused with standard of living, is not based primarily on income, but more on the all around factors found in a cities’ environment, well being and social efforts that may lead to a better measure in the psychology of happiness.

The following quality of living results are derived from the Mercer Quality of Living Survey, which annually compares 221 cities worldwide according to almost 40 criteria.

With the City of New York provided as a baseline, the ranking is measured according to factors such as political and economic stability, transportation, recreation, environment, culture, health care, hygiene, education and safety all combined.

Interestingly enough, most cities on the list are of Western Europe, where if one were to compare  with the personal safety ranking alone, Luxembourg would be the winner, followed by Bern, Geneva, Helsinki and Zürich, which are all Western European cities as well.

10 Sydney, Australia with 106.3 points (Wikipedia)

09 Bern, Switzerland with 106.5 points (Wikipedia)

08 Munich, Germany with 107 points (Wikipedia)

07 Frankfurt, Germany with 107 points (Wikipedia)

06 Düsseldorf, Germany with 107.2 points (Wikipedia)

05 Vancouver, Canada with 107.4 points (Wikipedia)

04 Auckland, New Zealand with 107.4 points (Wikipedia)

03 Geneva, Switzerland with 107.9 points (Wikipedia)

02 Zurich, Switzerland with 108 points (Wikipedia)

01 Vienna, Austria with 108.6 points (Wikipedia)