munich, germany
vancouver, canada
Munich is Germany’s third largest city and one of the country’s key economic
centers. It is also one of three German cities to dominate the top 10 rankings for the best
quality of life.
Holding on its fourth spot from last year, Munich is home to some of Germany’s
most notable businesses, including engineering firm Siemens and insurer Allianz. The
city generates nearly 30 percent of the gross domestic product of the State of Bavaria.
Munich’s per capita purchasing power was more than $33,700 in 2011, the highest among
all German cities and 30 percent above the national average. Drawing immigrants to its
industries from all over the world, more than a fifth of the city’s residents are foreigners.
Munich ties fellow German city Frankfurt for having the second best infrastructure
in the world, according to Mercer. In total, four German cities including Dusseldorf and
Hamburg dominate the top 10 infrastructure rankings highlighting the country’s first-class
airports and high standard of public services.
Vancouver is the only Canadian and North American city to make the top 10 list
this year, similar to 2011.
Vancouver has made it to a number of rankings on the world’s most livable cities over the past decade and has been among the top five in the Mercer quality of living
survey for the past six years. Home to one of the mildest climates in Canada, Vancouver is also its greenest city with the smallest carbon footprint of any major city in North
America. Surrounded by water and snowy mountains, Vancouver’s government constantly promotes green building, planning, and technology with the ambition of becoming the
world’s greenest city by 2020.
In terms of infrastructure, Vancouver also tops the rankings for North America at
ninth with Montreal and Atlanta landing in 13th place. Overall, Canadian cities still dominate the top of the rankings for North America despite only Vancouver making it into the
global top 10. Ottawa comes in at 14, Toronto at 15 and Montreal at 23, while it’s closet
U.S. competitor is Honolulu at 28 globally.