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
91	88	LIMASSOL	Cyprus	83.2	83.2
92	98	RIGA	Latvia	82.9	81.9
92	90	PANAMA CITY	Panama	82.9	82.9
94	94	MONTERREY	Mexico	82.6	82.2
95	94	TUNIS	Tunisia	82.4	82.2
96	94	VICTORIA	Seychelles	82.2	82.2
97	97	PAPEETE	French Polynesia	82.0	82.0
97	93	PORT ELIZABETH	South Africa	82.0	82.3
99	102	BRATISLAVA	Slovakia	81.7	80.5
100	103	SHANGHAI	China	81.6	80.1
101	99	JOHOR BAHARU	Malaysia	81.2	81.2
102	100	NOUMEA	New Caledonia	81.0	80.8
103	101	KAOHSIUNG	Taiwan	80.7	80.7
104	104	BRASILIA	Brazil	78.8	78.8
105	105	TEL AVIV	Israel	78.5	78.5
106	106	SAN JOSE	Costa Rica	77.8	77.8
107	111	ZAGREB	Croatia	77.6	76.2
108	111	BUCHAREST	Romania	76.9	76.2
109	107	BANGKOK	Thailand	76.8	77.7
110	110	YEOCHUN (YOSU)	South Korea	76.3	76.3
111	113	ASUNCION	Paraguay	76.1	76.1
112	114	NASSAU	Bahamas	75.9	75.9
113	115	ULSAN	South Korea	75.0	75.0
114	108	SAO PAULO	Brazil	74.6	77.1
115	116	RIO DE JANEIRO	Brazil	74.5	74.5
116	121	BEIJING	China	74.3	73.4
116	118	SOFIA	Bulgaria	74.3	73.8
118	117	QUITO	Ecuador	74.2	74.2
119	123	CASABLANCA	Morocco	73.7	72.8
120	122	LIMA	Peru	73.6	73.0
121	108	ISTANBUL	Turkey	73.4	77.1
122	124	JERUSALEM	Israel	72.5	72.5
123	125	MANAMA	Bahrain	72.3	72.3
123	118	MANILA	Philippines	72.3	73.8
125	127	GUAYAQUIL	Ecuador	72.0	72.0
126	129	MANAUS	Brazil	71.5	71.5
127	130	SANTO DOMINGO	Dominican Republic	71.4	71.4
128	128	MEXICO CITY	Mexico	71.3	71.7
129	126	AMMAN	Jordan	71.2	72.2
129	131	CAIRO	Egypt	71.2	71.2
131	133	GUANGZHOU	China	70.3	69.8
132	132	RAYONG	Thailand	69.3	70.3
133	134	KUWAIT CITY	Kuwait	69.0	68.1
134	135	BLANTYRE	Malawi	66.9	66.9
135	136	NANJING	China	66.8	66.3
136	120	COLOMBO	Sri Lanka	66.3	73.6
137	138	LUSAKA	Zambia	65.5	65.5
138	139	KINGSTON	Jamaica	65.3	65.3
139	137	LA PAZ	Bolivia	64.5	65.7
140	141	GUATEMALA CITY	Guatemala	64.3	64.3
141	140	CARACAS	Venezuela	64.1	64.5
142	142	JAKARTA	Indonesia	63.7	63.7
143	143	BOGOTA	Colombia	63.6	63.6
144	145	MEDELLIN	Colombia	63.3	63.3
145	147	SHENYANG	China	63.0	62.6
146	144	DAKAR	Senegal	62.7	63.5
147	158	BELGRADE	Serbia	62.6	59.4
148	150	NEW DELHI	India	62.4	61.0
149	145	SANTA CRUZ	Bolivia	62.1	63.3
150	148	HO CHI MINH CITY	Vietnam	62.0	61.9
151	150	MUMBAI	India	61.7	61.0
152	156	SKOPJE	Macedonia	61.4	59.9
153	153	BANGALORE	India	61.3	60.6
154	152	ACCRA	Ghana	60.9	60.9
155	153	LIBREVILLE	Gabon	60.6	60.6
156	148	NAIROBI	Kenya	60.2	61.9
157	155	HANOI	Vietnam	60.1	60.0
158	157	ISLAMABAD	Pakistan	59.8	59.8
159	159	CHENNAI (MADRAS)	India	59.3	58.3
160	163	SARAJEVO	Bosnia-Herzegovina	58.7	56.5
161	160	JILIN	China	57.9	57.4
162	161	JEDDAH	Saudi Arabia	57.3	57.1
163	163	LAHORE	Pakistan	56.5	56.5
164	165	RIYADH	Saudi Arabia	56.4	56.2
164	162	ST. PETERSBURG	Russia	56.4	56.8
164	167	SAN SALVADOR	El Salvador	56.4	56.0
167	165	KIEV	Ukraine	56.2	56.2
168	168	HARARE	Zimbabwe	55.2	55.9
169	169	VIENTIANE	Laos, People's Dem. Republic Of	55.0	55.0
170	170	MANAGUA	Nicaragua	54.9	54.9
171	172	MOSCOW	Russia	54.4	54.8
172	174	COTONOU	Benin	54.3	54.3
173	175	DJIBOUTI	Djibouti	54.2	54.2
173	177	TRIPOLI	Libya	54.2	53.5
175	170	KARACHI	Pakistan	52.9	54.9
176	173	DAMASCUS	Syria	52.8	54.5
176	176	TEHRAN	Iran	52.8	54.1
178	178	ALGIERS	Algeria	52.6	52.6
179	179	BEIRUT	Lebanon	52.5	52.0
180	181	SAN PEDRO SULA	Honduras	51.8	51.3