Manila, not a suitable city to live in – Mercer’s Quality of Living Survey 2010

Mercer, a global human resources consulting firm helping organizations empower their people attain success in the business, released the results of the Quality of Living Survey for 2010.

With this, Manila, the capital of the Philippines, was referred to directly – stating how this particular city experienced tremendous natural disasters during the past year, therefore resulting to the low rank it attained as per the survey mentioned, placing 172^nd among the 221 cities surveyed all throughout the world. From a score of 69.9 in 2009, the Philippines’ metro hub dodged to 62.8

This score is based on an index score of 100, compared against the base city, New York.

Having gone through typhoons, earthquakes, and cyclones in 2009 and early 2010, Manila, together with other cities in Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos, and Thailand, were ranked low in the said survey. Aside from the natural calamities, these mentioned cities were also prone to internal conflicts, crimes, pollution, and other hazards to optimum living of their citizens.

Asia’s leading city when it comes to these criteria, Singapore, ranked 28^th, as it was described to promote its financial growth, education (especially to international students), and expatriates’ housing.

Meanwhile, worldwide, Vienna (1^st), Zurich (2^nd), Geneva (3^rd), Vancouver (4^th), and Auckland (4^th) are on the top spots.

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Having learned the results of the survey, I don’t intend to put down my own country. But in tangible sense, we can now really compare the difference of some countries with the others, and think about how we, as Filipinos, can contribute to the ascent of our cities and eventually our country.

We may still not be that developed, as compared to the 1^st world countries, but in time, and with perseverance, who knows? We too, can be one of the top countries in the world – in terms of holistic development of its people and resources.

References:

http://ph.news.yahoo.com/gma/20100526/tph-crimes-pollution-traffic-hound-livin-d6cd5cf.html

http://www.mercer.com/qualityofliving#top5