HYDERABAD: Hyderabad has been ranked top among Indian cities in the quality of living.
According to Mercer’s Quality of Living Report 2015, the city is ranked at 138 globally in the quality of living and is highest among the Indian cities, ahead of Pune, Mumbai and New Delhi.
The survey highlights that Indian cities haven’t made much progress on the quality of living scale, scoring nearly the same as they did last year. Over time, Hyderabad has emerged as a city of choice due to factors such as improved options for international schools and a fine choice of reputable English-speaking schools.
Additionally, Rajiv Gandhi International Airport is located 22 km from the city and offers a good range of international flights, which improves its ranking on account of public services. Both Hyderabad and Pune rank higher for quality of living than the country’s more traditional business centres, Mumbai and New Delhi which ranked at 152 and 154 respectively.
“The World Health Organization (WHO) recently published data on pollution around the world suggesting that 13 of the world’s 20 most-polluted cities are all in India, this impacts the overall scores of Indian cities” said Ruchika Pal, India Practice Leader, Global Mobility at Mercer.
“While other factors have remained constant, considerable population increases in Mumbai and New Delhi, in the recent decades, have increased existing problems, including access to clean water, air pollution, and traffic congestion,” she said.
Vienna has been rated as the city with the best quality of living in the world for the second consecutive time by Mercer’s Quality of Living rankings 2015 unveiled on Wednesday. European cities dominate the rankings along with major cities in Australia and New Zealand. Zurich, Auckland, and Munich were rated second, third and fourth respectively. In the fifth place, Vancouver is the highest-ranking city in North America.