Lagos and Abuja have been placed low on the latest Quality of Living ranking released by Mercer on Tuesday, March 20, a New York-based human resources consulting firm. Out of 231 cities surveyed, Lagos is ranked 212th, followed by Abuja (same position it was in the previous edition), the country’s capital city, which is placed 213rd in the 2018 Quality of Living ranking.
The low ranking of Lagos and Abuja in the global index comes amid ongoing infrastructural initiatives undertaken by the Lagos State Government.
Some African cities that are ranked higher than Lagos and Abuja are: Port Louis (83) is the highest ranking African city for quality of living followed by the Durban (89), Cape Town (94) and Johannesburg (95).
N’Djamena (226), Khartoum (227) and Bangui (230) stay the lowest ranked in the region. Persistent political instability, poverty, extreme climates and lack of appropriate infrastructure investments means these cities have the lowest quality of living worldwide.
Victoria (58) ranks highest on the continent for City Sanitation, followed by Durban (73) and Port Louis (80), whereas Brazzaville (225) and Antananarivo (226) fill the bottom places.
The survey is based on Mercer’s evaluation of local living conditions analysed according to 39 factors, grouped in 10 categories. These categories are political and social environment; economic environment; socio-cultural environment; medical and health considerations; schools and education; public services and transportation; recreation; consumer goods; housing; and natural environment.
Vienna tops the ranking for the 9th year running and is followed by Zurich (2), Auckland and Munich in joint 3rd place. In 5th place, Vancouver completes the top five and is the highest ranking city in North America. Singapore (25) and Montevideo (77) are the highest-ranking cities in Asia and Latin America respectively.
Founded in 1945, Mercer is the world’s largest human resources consulting firm, specializing in talent, health, retirement, and investment services. The company operates in over 140 countries with over 20,000 employees based in 43 countries. Mercer is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Marsh & McLennan Companies, a global professional services firm, with over $13 billion in revenue.
