This European City Is Where Expats Have the Best Quality of Life, According to a New Report

Over 87 million people are estimated to live as expats across the globe, and plenty of of them have moved abroad in quest of a greater high quality of life.

Worldwide consulting agency Mercer lately ranked Zurich as the perfect location for expats based mostly on financial, social, and environmental components.

The corporate launched its annual High quality of Dwelling Metropolis Rating, evaluating cities with the perfect dwelling circumstances for worldwide employees. Mercer considers components equivalent to political stability, well being care, schooling, infrastructure, and cultural surroundings.

“This yr, Zurich, Switzerland, takes the highest place, fueled by its excellent public companies, low crime charges, and a vigorous cultural scene, all backed by environment friendly infrastructure and a dedication to sustainability,” the report reads, declaring that the Swiss metropolis has added a number of new direct flight routes to and from different continents enhancing its connectivity. 

Switzerland’s largest metropolis serves as a world monetary hub the place over 400,000 folks, or about 28 percent of its population, are foreign-born. It’s divided into 12 districts, with the Outdated City courting again over 2,000 years at its coronary heart. 

Earlier this yr, Zurich was additionally named the world’s smartest city for its progressive integration of recent applied sciences, which improves city life. The distinguished Economist Intelligence Unit highlighted it because the third most livable metropolis in 2024, with good scores within the schooling and healthcare classes.

Nonetheless, in case you’re contemplating transferring there, understand that it has additionally repeatedly ranked as certainly one of the priciest cities in the world. Mercer identifies it because the third costliest place to dwell, behind Hong Kong and Singapore. 

Switzerland has probably the most cities — 4 — among the many prime ten in Mercer’s 2024 report. Geneva climbed two spots this yr to 3rd place, whereas Bern and Basel improved their standing by 4 and at the moment are ninth and tenth, respectively. 

Vienna, which topped the rating final yr, dropped to second place in 2024. Nonetheless, the Austrian capital provides a very good steadiness of high quality of life and affordability, because it ranked twenty fourth for price of dwelling. 

Auckland (fifth) and Vancouver (seventh) are the one non-European cities within the prime ten. Boston (thirty second) is the highest-ranking American metropolis on the record, which highlights 241 cities worldwide.

The worst cities for expats this yr are Bangui, Central African Republic (239th), Baghdad, Iraq (240th), and Khartoum, Sudan (241st).

You’ll be able to learn the whole report and its findings on mercer.com.