A new Mercer study ranks cities by the quality of life they offer expatriate executives and their families across the world

What foreign postings are most coveted by expatriate executives? To find out, Mercer Human Resource Consulting, which provides advice to multinational companies on international assignments, has come up with a global ranking of the world's most livable cities based on 39 key quality-of-life issues. They include political stability, currency-exchange regulations, political and media censorship, school quality, housing, the environment and public safety. Mercer collected the data between September and November of 2006 and considered 215 cities around the globe. Switzerland's main commercial and cultural center, Zurich, topped the list this year, followed by Geneva, and Vancouver and Vienna, which tied for third. To see how other cities fared, check out this interactive table.

2007 RANK	2006 RANK	CITY	COUNTRY	2007 Index	2006 Index
1	1	ZURICH	Switzerland	108.1	108.2
2	2	GENEVA	Switzerland	108.0	108.1
3	3	VANCOUVER	Canada	107.7	107.7
3	4	VIENNA	Austria	107.7	107.5
5	5	AUCKLAND	New Zealand	107.3	107.3
5	6	DUSSELDORF	Germany	107.3	107.2
7	7	FRANKFURT	Germany	107.1	107.0
8	8	MUNICH	Germany	106.9	106.8
9	9	BERN	Switzerland	106.5	106.5
9	9	SYDNEY	Australia	106.5	106.5
11	11	COPENHAGEN	Denmark	106.2	106.2
12	12	WELLINGTON	New Zealand	105.8	105.8
13	13	AMSTERDAM	The Netherlands	105.7	105.7
14	14	BRUSSELS	Belgium	105.6	105.6
15	15	TORONTO	Canada	105.4	105.4
16	16	BERLIN	Germany	105.2	105.1
17	17	MELBOURNE	Australia	105.0	105.0
18	18	LUXEMBOURG	Luxembourg	104.8	104.8
18	18	OTTAWA	Canada	104.8	104.8
20	20	STOCKHOLM	Sweden	104.7	104.7
21	21	PERTH	Australia	104.5	104.5
22	22	MONTREAL	Canada	104.3	104.3
23	23	NURNBERG	Germany	104.2	104.1
24	25	CALGARY	Canada	103.6	103.6
24	26	HAMBURG	Germany	103.6	103.4
26	31	OSLO	Norway	103.5	102.8
27	24	DUBLIN	Ireland	103.3	103.8
27	27	HONOLULU, HI	United States	103.3	103.3
29	28	SAN FRANCISCO, CA	United States	103.2	103.2
30	29	ADELAIDE	Australia	103.1	103.1
30	29	HELSINKI	Finland	103.1	103.1
32	31	BRISBANE	Australia	102.8	102.8
33	33	PARIS	France	102.7	102.7
34	34	SINGAPORE	Singapore	102.5	102.5
35	35	TOKYO	Japan	102.3	102.3
36	37	LYON	France	101.9	101.6
36	36	BOSTON, MA	United States	101.9	101.9
38	37	YOKOHAMA	Japan	101.7	101.6
39	39	LONDON	United Kingdom	101.2	101.2
40	40	KOBE	Japan	101.0	101.0
41	44	BARCELONA	Spain	100.6	100.2
42	45	MADRID	Spain	100.5	100.1
42	51	OSAKA	Japan	100.5	99.6
44	41	WASHINGTON, DC	United States	100.4	100.4
44	41	CHICAGO, IL	United States	100.4	100.4
46	43	PORTLAND, OR	United States	100.3	100.3
47	53	LISBON	Portugal	100.1	98.9
48	46	NEW YORK CITY, NY	United States	100.0	100.0
49	51	MILAN	Italy	99.9	99.6
49	47	SEATTLE, WA	United States	99.9	99.9
51	48	LEXINGTON, KY	United States	99.8	99.8
52	49	PITTSBURGH, PA	United States	99.7	99.7
52	49	WINSTON SALEM, NC	United States	99.7	99.7
54	53	NAGOYA	Japan	99.5	98.9
55	55	BIRMINGHAM	United Kingdom	98.3	98.3
55	55	TSUKUBA	Japan	98.3	98.3
55	55	GLASGOW	United Kingdom	98.3	98.3
55	55	LOS ANGELES, CA	United States	98.3	98.3
59	59	CLEVELAND, OH	United States	98.2	98.2
60	60	MINNEAPOLIS, MN	United States	97.9	97.9
61	62	ROME	Italy	97.4	97.4
62	63	MIAMI, FL	United States	96.3	96.3
63	64	YOKKAICHI	Japan	96.2	96.2
64	65	DETROIT, MI	United States	96.1	96.1
64	61	ST. LOUIS, MO	United States	96.1	97.6
66	66	ATLANTA, GA	United States	95.7	95.7
67	68	LEIPZIG	Germany	95.5	95.4
68	68	HOUSTON, TX	United States	95.4	95.4
69	67	OMUTA	Japan	94.9	95.5
70	68	HONG KONG	Hong Kong	94.3	95.4
71	72	SAN JUAN	Puerto Rico	92.9	92.9
72	73	PRAGUE	Czech Republic	92.3	91.8
73	71	KATSUYAMA	Japan	91.4	93.1
74	74	BUDAPEST	Hungary	90.2	90.8
75	75	KUALA LUMPUR	Malaysia	88.9	88.9
76	76	MONTEVIDEO	Uruguay	88.2	88.1
77	77	PORT LOUIS	Mauritius	87.7	87.7
78	79	ATHENS	Greece	87.6	86.8
79	78	BUENOS AIRES	Argentina	87.4	87.3
80	80	LJUBLJANA	Slovenia	87.0	86.6
80	85	DUBAI	United Arab Emirates	87.0	85.2
82	84	VILNIUS	Lithuania	86.6	85.9
83	81	SANTIAGO	Chile	86.5	86.5
83	81	TAIPEI	Taiwan	86.5	86.5
85	83	CAPE TOWN	South Africa	85.7	86.0
85	86	WARSAW	Poland	85.7	85.1
87	89	SEOUL	South Korea	85.2	83.0
88	92	ABU DHABI	United Arab Emirates	84.1	82.6
89	91	TALLINN	Estonia	83.7	82.8
90	87	JOHANNESBURG	South Africa	83.3	84.0