Better urban living standards

Mercer, a consulting, outsourcing and investment company based in the United Kingdom, last week named Vienna, Zurich, Geneva, Vancouver and Auckland as the top five cities in the world for their quality of living.

According to its quality of living rankings of 221 cities worldwide, major Chinese cities did not even make the top 50 slots. Hong Kong ranked 71, Shanghai 98 with Beijing trailing at 114. Singapore topped the cities in Asia, as the 28th city in the world for its quality of living.

Interestingly, the Chinese media and netizens seem quite unperturbed by the survey results, which place Shanghai and Beijing in the middle of all the listed cities. Only one netizen raised some doubts about the survey in a blog, but without elaboration.