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About Sydney and NSW > Quality of Life and Cost of Living

Quality of Life

Sydney is a global, cosmopolitan city that boasts an enviable quality of life. Sydney was ranked 10th out of 215 cities by the 2008 Mercer Worldwide Quality of Living Survey. Cities in this survey are graded against 39 key quality of living criteria ranging from political to social and environmental factors. Sydney ranks above almost all other Asia Pacific cities and ahead of all the other Australian capital cities.

Australia was also ranked first in the Asia Pacific and third in the world for quality of life by the IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook 2008.

In addition to being the business gateway to Australia, Sydney is a dynamic and sophisticated city. Sydney is a leading fashion, food, sports, arts and cultural centre. In 2008, Sydney ranked as the seventh top fashion city in the world according to the Global Language Monitor’s Annual Global Survey. Sydney was the only Australian city to feature in the top 10, moving up five spots from the previous year’s rankings.

Sydney and regional New South Wales are great locations for businesses and expatriate staff, offering political stability, access to key amenities, as well as high levels of safety and health care.

Quality of Life, 2008

Country (a)        World Ranking Index (2)      City
(b)		 World ranking Index (3)
Australia  3 9.28 Sydney 10 106.3
New Zealand 10 8.91 Auckland 4 107.4
Germany 11 8.89 Frankfurt 8 106.8
Singapore 12 8.89 Singapore 26 103.5
United States 14 8.53 New York 49 100.0
France 16 8.17 Paris 33 102.9
Malaysia 20 7.43 Kuala Lumpur 75 90.4
United Kingdom 21 7.16 London =38 101.6
Japan 23 6.90 Tokyo 35 102.2
Hong Kong 27 6.59 Hong Kong 70 94.4
Korea 31 6.18 Seoul 83 87.2
Thailand 33 5.93 Bangkok 120 73.8
Taiwan 34 5.84 Taipei 86 86.8
India 37 5.27 Mumbai 148 62.5
Philippines 43 4.81 Manila 131 70.7
China 45 4.72 Beijing 113 74.9
Indonesia 50 4.26 Jakarta 140 64.9

Footnotes:
1 0 = low quality of life, 10 =high quality of life, The IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook, 2008.
2 The Mercer Quality of Life Index is derived from 39 key quality of living determinants, weighted and grouped in the categories of political and social environment, economic environment, socio-cultural environment, health and sanitation, schools and education, public services and transport, recreation, consumer goods, housing, and natural environment. Cities are ranked against New York as the base city, which has an index score of 100

Sources: The IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook, 2008, Switzerland, www.imd.ch/wcy; Mercer Human Resource Consulting, May 2009, www.imercer.com