Vancouver third best city in the world

Vancouver is the third best city in the world in which to live, only slightly behind Swiss cities Zurich and Geneva, according to a new report.

Vancouver could have been the top city out of the 215 ranked by Mercer Human Resources' Quality of Living index if not for its crime rate, said a Mercer spokesperson.

"Crime rates in North America tend to be slightly higher than in Europe in general and this holds true when you compare locations like Zurich and Geneva to Vancouver," said Danielle Bushen, a principal at Mercer in Toronto.

All five Canadian cities that made the list — Vancouver (3), Toronto (15), Ottawa (18), Montreal (22) and Calgary (24) — beat out the American cities. The highest ranking U.S. city was Honolulu at 27.

The index is based on 39 quality of life determinants, including politics, environment, sanitation, infrastructure, personal safety and social factors. Western European cities dominated the top 30 spots, with Milan and Seattle (tied for 49) rounding out the top 50.

All five Canadian cities also made Mercer's top 25 ranking for health and sanitation, with Calgary being the top ranked city in the world. This index was based on the quality and availability of hospital and medical supplies and levels of air pollution and infectious diseases.

One of this year's biggest improvements has been in Osaka, rising 8 places to 42 from 51. Improvement was also seen in Oslo, which climbed five places from 31 to 26.

The lowest ranked city was Baghdad, with a score of only 14.5. Other cities that didn't make the top 50 list included Brazzaville in Congo (29.6), Bangui in the Central African Republic (30.6) and Khartoum in Sudan (31).

Rank 2007 Rank 2006 City Country Index 2007 1 1 ZURICH Switzerland 108.1 2 2 GENEVA Switzerland 108.0 3 3 VANCOUVER Canada 107.7 3 4 VIENNA Austria 107.7 5 5 AUCKLAND New Zealand 107.3 5 6 DUSSELDORF Germany 107.3 7 7 FRANKFURT Germany 107.1 8 8 MUNICH Germany 106.9 9 9 BERN Switzerland 106.5 9 9 SYDNEY Australia 106.5 11 11 COPENHAGEN Denmark 106.2 12 12 WELLINGTON New Zealand 105.8 13 13 AMSTERDAM The Netherlands 105.7 14 14 BRUSSELS Belgium 105.6 15 15 TORONTO Canada 105.4 16 16 BERLIN Germany 105.2 17 17 MELBOURNE Australia 105.0 18 18 LUXEMBOURG Luxembourg 104.8 18 18 OTTAWA Canada 104.8 20 20 STOCKHOLM Sweden 104.7 21 21 PERTH Australia 104.5 22 22 MONTREAL Canada 104.3 23 23 NURNBERG Germany 104.2 24 25 CALGARY Canada 103.6 24 26 HAMBURG Germany 103.6 26 31 OSLO Norway 103.5 27 24 DUBLIN Ireland 103.3 27 27 HONOLULU, HI United States 103.3 29 28 SAN FRANCISCO, CA United States 103.2 30 29 ADELAIDE Australia 103.1 30 29 HELSINKI Finland 103.1 32 31 BRISBANE Australia 102.8 33 33 PARIS France 102.7 34 34 SINGAPORE Singapore 102.5 35 35 TOKYO Japan 102.3 36 37 LYON France 101.9 36 36 BOSTON, MA United States 101.9 38 37 YOKOHAMA Japan 101.7 39 39 LONDON United Kingdom 101.2 40 40 KOBE Japan 101.0 41 44 BARCELONA Spain 100.6 42 45 MADRID Spain 100.5 42 51 OSAKA Japan 100.5 44 41 WASHINGTON, DC United States 100.4 44 41 CHICAGO, IL United States 100.4 46 43 PORTLAND, OR United States 100.3 47 53 LISBON Portugal 100.1 48 46 NEW YORK CITY, NY United States 100.0 49 51 MILAN Italy 99.9 49 47 SEATTLE, WA United States 99.9