SINGAPORE has come out tops as the country with the highest quality of living in Asia-Pacific, with the highest rank in personal safety.
Following Singapore’s lead in the ranking are five Japanese cities, namely Tokyo, Kobe, Yokohama, Osaka and Nagoya, according to Mercer’s quality of living survey. After these cities are Hong Kong and Seoul, which rose two places from the year before from returning political stability following the arrest of its president last year.
The survey also highlighted notable cities in South-east Asia, such as Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Manila and Jakarta. Phnom Penh ranks lowest for personal safety, while safety continues to be an issue in the central Asian cities of Almaty, Tashkent, Ashgabat, Dushanbe and Bishkek.
In mainland China, notable cities include Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou and Shenzhen. As for Southern Asia, the Indian cities of New Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru remained unchanged from last year’s ranking for overall quality of living. Chennai has also been ranked the region’s safest city, while Karachi is the least safe.
Adpated from The Business Times 13 March 2019