Riyadh, Jeddah quality of living worst in Gulf

LIVING CONDITIONS: Riyadh (pictured) and Jeddah have the lowest quality of living of any major Gulf city, Mercer has said. (Getty Images)

Residents in two of the biggest cities in Saudi Arabia, flush with petrodollars, have the lowest quality of living of any major city in the Gulf, according to a survey by consultancy firm Mercer.

The firm ranked Riyadh and Jeddah 164th and 162nd respectively out of 215 cities worldwide in its 2008 Quality of Living Survey, released on Tuesday.

The survey included six cities in the Gulf and five other Middle Eastern cities, of which Dubai was judged to have the highest quality of living, ranked in 80th place, followed by Abu Dhabi in 88th place.

The rankings are based on a point index of 39 ‘quality of living’ factors, including political stability, crime, censorship, limitations on personal freedom, medical supplies and services, infectious diseases and sewage.

Manama in Bahrain was the third highest ranked Gulf state at 123, followed by Kuwait City at 133.

Beirut (179), Tehrain (176) and Sanna in Yemen (208) were all ranked among the worst cities in the world for quality of living. The worst country in the world to live in was, perhaps unsurprisingly, Baghdad.

The ranking of most Middle East countries included in the survey did not change markedly from Mercer's 2007 survey.

Slagin Parakatil, senior researcher at Mercer, said personal safety and political tensions continued to hold Middle East cities' ratings back despite massive investments in infrastructure, health and sanitation.

“Personal safety and political tensions remain stumbling blocks and account for the low ranking of many of the region’s cities,” Parakatil said in a statement.

The city with the highest quality of living was Zurich in Switzerland, followed by Vienna in Austria, Geneva in Switzerland, Vancouver in Canada and Auckland in New Zealand.

Mercer also ranked cities separately for personal safety, in which both Dubai and Abu Dhabi saw a drastic improvement in their ranking compared to the overall quality of living survey. Dubai was ranked 47th, while Abu Dhabi was ranked 33rd.

The city with the highest personal safety was Luxembourg, followed by Bern, Geneva, Helsinki, Zurich and Vienna.

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READERS' COMMENTS

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KSA is one of the Countries in the worl.
Posted by Yasmin on Sunday 15 June 2008 at 13:32 UAE time

I am an Indonesian living in KSA and have been brought up here. I was in a British school, and had a wonderful childhood and teenage years. After finishing college I had to come back because of how much I missed it.

Mercer did not take into consideration as to why most of the population enjoys living here KSA is a safe Muslim country and an easy way of life and this assessment is completely false. The rankings are based on a point index of 39 ‘quality of living’ factors, crime, censorship, limitations on personal freedom, medical supplies and services, infectious diseases and sewage.

There are none of these, crimes are the least here in the KSA; Limitations to personal freedom..? A person can do whatever he wants in their own home; INFECTIOUS DISEASE!? We are not living in the dirtiest country in the world? 18% of the population have diseases which is usually AIDs - not bad huh... and they are usually quarantined so no one else can get infected.

THIS ARTICLE IS COMPLETELY MISLEADING AND A LOT OF PEOPLE ARE OFFENDED BY IT!

Top 10 Cities
Posted by CV, Riyadh, KSA on Wednesday 11 June 2008 at 20:27 UAE time

I totally disagree with the findings. Dubai is a wonderful place. But, go a step further, ask the residents. Then, you will find, it is no longer a great place in terms of 'quality of living'! Riyadh, by contrast, is a great place to live in.

What's the hell you're talkin about!
Posted by Sokarnow, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on Wednesday 11 June 2008 at 19:06 UAE time

Hey to everyone !
I just wonder who is providing the information here?

Jeddah is no extraordinary place to live in, but neither is it is not a place full of criminals and mafiosi.

It's a place where ordinary people live, they have their human problems, but I'm sure that Western countries towns and cities are not a heaven place compared to Jeddah & Riyadh.

From personal experience this ranking is not credible. I'm not biased or taken by emotions, but I have been to many of these cities, in fact lived in some of these higher ranked places...

I think we need to re-evaluate the rankers!

Agree - Riyad Rocks
Posted by Jowarah, Riyadh, KSA on Wednesday 11 June 2008 at 16:28 UAE time


Ali - you are spot on. I think the list is streotypical. Dismiss it. Dubai and Manama are stressful places to live in (because of tourist influx) and nightmarish traffic rush and the accomodations are overpriced. Riyadh has lush green villas, amazing water and sewage system, wide traffic lanes etc and people living here are not in the rat-race of living by the day and for the day.

Riyadh Rocks !!!
Posted by Ali, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Wednesday 11 June 2008 at 09:31 UAE time


Did the compliers of this list ever visit Riyadh before placing it so low on one of the quality places to live in? I am an expat here for almost a decade now and Riyadh is no camel outhouse. This is a vibrant, lively, safe, developed cosmopolitan city that is cyber savvy and environmentally stable. The ranking done in the comfort of some office thousands of miles away based on statistics churned by underpaid analysts is totally misleading. Makes me absolutely sure that Zurich wouldn't be worth the top slot too.....

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