Switzerland's staid image has received a major boost, with a survey published today showing Zurich as the world's most desirable city in which to live, knocking last year's winner Vancouver into a second place tie with Vienna.
Swiss cities dominated the list of 215 centres ranked according to quality of life, with Geneva tying Sydney for fourth place and Bern finishing 10th, in the annual survey by human resources consultancy William M Mercer. Dublin was 35th.
Retaining the unwelcome distinction of the world's worst city in which to live was Brazzaville, Congo.
39 criteria were used to judge cities' desirability, including the political, economic, natural and socio-cultural environments, healthcare, education, housing, transport, shopping and recreation.
New York was used as the baseline for comparison. The Big Apple finished 41st, equal with London, Washington, Boston, Chicago and Madrid.
Rounding out the top 10 were Frankfurt, Helsinki, Auckland and Copenhagen.
