South Africa's 'third wheel' is most liveable city

Durban might not be the most popular city in South Africa‚ but it offers the best quality of living.

This is according to Mercer’s 20th annual Quality of Living survey.

Durban was ranked 89th of the 231 cities Mercer surveyed worldwide. Cape Town came out second best South African city in 94th and Johannesburg was just behind 95th place.

Port Louis in Mauritius was ranked the best city in the region with the 83rd spot worldwide.

“Cities in emerging markets‚ though challenged by economic and political turmoil‚ are catching up with top ranking cities following decades of investing in infrastructure‚ recreational facilities and housing in order to attract talent and multinational businesses‚” Mercer said.

Vienna in Austria was the ranked the city with the best quality of living for the ninth year in a row‚ because it provides “high security‚ well-structured public transportation and a variety of cultural and recreation facilities”.

It was followed by Zurich in Switzerland in second place; Auckland in New Zealand and Munich in Germany shared third place.

Baghdad in Iraq was voted the worst city.

Mercer conducts the survey annually to help “enable multinational companies and other organisations to compensate employees fairly when placing them on international assignments”.

They look at 39 factors‚ including crime‚ political stability‚ media freedom‚ personal freedom‚ medical services‚ education‚ service delivery‚ public transport‚ cultural life sports‚ food supply‚ housing and the natural environment. The data was analysed between September and November 2017.

Slagin Parakatil from Mercer said: “Younger generations‚ millennials in particular‚ often have high expectations in terms of lifestyle‚ leisure and entertainment opportunities. Companies sending expatriates abroad need to get the full picture of conditions on the ground in order to compensate their employees appropriately for any decrease in living standards.”