Most Livable Cities...

I was chatting on the phone today with a Brisvagas-based friend and he brought it to my attention that the results are out for the 2008 Mercer's Quality of Living Survey.

This list is often used to determine the world's "Most Livable Cities".

( According to Wikipedia:
"Mercer's Quality of Life Survey is released annually, comparing 215 cities based on 39 criteria. Important criteria are safety, education, hygiene, recreation, political-economic stability and public transportation. The importance of the list lies primarily in that internationally operating companies use it to determine where they will open offices or plants and how much they pay the employees.")

I seem to recall that in the mid-90's - Brisbane used to rate quite highly on this list (and was usually the highest ranked Australian city). Not any more. This year it has fallen to number 34 (down from 31 last year) and has been surpassed by Sydney (10), Melbourne (17), Perth (21), and Adelaide (29).

This year, Dusseldorf has made it to place 6, and is the highest ranked German city.*

Now, just have to figure out how I can go about claiming some credit for this turn of events... ;)

*But really, haven't these Mercer people heard about the bloody Wehrhahn Line?