Accra 150th best city in the world, study says

Accra finished 150^th, up three spots from last year, in a study ranking quality of life in 215 world cities.

Accra lost out to cities like Ho Chi Minh City(Vietnam), Kingston(Jamaica), Harare (Zimbabwe), but claimed the scalps of Beirut(Lebanon), Bombay (India) Moscow (Russia) and Lagos (Nigeria)

The study, from Mercer Human Resource Consulting ? a firm with offices in 40 countries ? takes into account public safety, political stability, economics, culture, personal freedom, schools, transit and other public services.

The Swiss city Zurich ranked first again this year followed by Vancover, Canada.

Many of the world's cities, in industrialized countries, with large concentration of Ghanaian immigrants rank quite low on the quality-of-life scale.

Toronto ranked 12th, Hamburg -26th, London ranked 39th, Paris - 31st, New York ranked 44th, Chicago - 47th, Los Angeles - 53, Rome, Italy - 60

Ranked on public safety alone, Canada's cities were the safest in North America, the study says, "due to strict law enforcement and low crime rates." All five cities tied for 25th in the world on this measure.

Washington, D.C., was North America's most dangerous city, ranking 107th.

The worst place in the world to live was Brazzaville, capital of the Republic of Congo. It ranked 215th. Many African cities were clustered at the bottom of the scale, but the Iraqi capital of Baghdad was third-last.

Luxembourg was the safest city in the world; Bangui, in the Central African Republic, was deemed the most dangerous.

Overall rankings
Rank 2003	Rank 2002	City	Country	Index 2003	Index 2002
1	1	Zurich	Switzerland	106.5	106.5
2	2	Vancouver	Canada	106	106
2	2	Vienna	Austria	106	106
2	4	Geneva	Switzerland	106	105.5
5	4	Sydney	Australia	105	105.5
5	6	Auckland	N.Z.	105	105
5	6	Copenhagen	Denmark	105	105
5	6	Frankfurt	Germany	105	105
5	10	Bern	Switzerland	105	104.5
10	10	Munich	Germany	104.5	104.5
10	12	Amsterdam	Netherlands	104.5	104
12	15	Brussels	Belgium	104	103.5
12	15	D?sseldorf	Germany	104	103.5
12	18	Toronto	Canada	104	103
15	12	Melbourne	Australia	103.5	104
15	12	Stockholm	Sweden	103.5	104
15	18	Luxembourg	Luxembourg	103.5	103
15	22	Berlin	Germany	103.5	102.5
15	22	Wellington	N.Z.	103.5	102.5
20	18	Perth	Australia	103	103
20	18	San Francisco	U.S.	103	103
20	25	Ottawa	Canada	103	102
23	22	Honolulu	U.S.	102.5	102.5
23	25	Montreal	Canada	102.5	102
23	35	Dublin	Ireland	102.5	101
26	6	Helsinki	Finland	102	105
26	25	Hamburg	Germany	102	102
26	25	Nurnberg	Germany	102	102
26	25	Tokyo	Japan	102	102
26	31	Calgary	Canada	102	101.5
31	15	Oslo	Norway	101.5	103.5
31	25	Brisbane	Australia	101.5	102
31	31	Paris	France	101.5	101.5
31	31	Yokohama	Japan	101.5	101.5
31	35	Adelaide	Australia	101.5	101
36	31	Seattle	U.S.	101	101.5
36	35	Kobe	Japan	101	101
36	35	Singapore	Singapore	101	101
39	40	Lyon	France	100.5	100.5
39	41	Boston	U.S.	100.5	100
39	41	London	Britain	100.5	100
39	41	Winston Salem	U.S.	100.5	100
39	51	Portland	U.S.	100.5	99
44	41	Madrid	Spain	100	100
44	41	New York	U.S.	100	100
44	48	Lexington	U.S.	100	99.5
47	41	Chicago	U.S.	99.5	100
47	48	Osaka	Japan	99.5	99.5
47	48	Pittsburgh	U.S.	99.5	99.5
50	41	Washington, D.C.	U.S.	99	100
50	51	Barcelona	Spain	99	99
52	54	Nagoya	Japan	98.5	98.5
53	35	Los Angeles	U.S.	98	101
53	56	Minneapolis	U.S.	98	98
55	51	Houston	U.S.	97.5	99
55	57	Birmingham	Britain	97.5	97.5
55	57	Glasgow	Britain	97.5	97.5
55	57	Lisbon	Portugal	97.5	97.5
55	57	St. Louis	U.S.	97.5	97.5
55	57	Tsukuba	Japan	97.5	97.5
55	63	Cleveland	U.S.	97.5	96
62	63	Milan	Italy	97	96
63	54	Atlanta	U.S.	96.5	98.5
63	62	Miami	U.S.	96.5	96.5
65	63	Detroit	U.S.	96	96
66	66	Yokkaichi	Japan	95	95
66	68	Rome	Italy	95	93.5
68	67	Omuta	Japan	94.5	94.5
69	70	Leipzig	Germany	93.5	92.5
70	69	Hong Kong	China	93	93
71	71	Katsuyama	Japan	92	92
71	71	San Juan	Puerto Rico	92	92
73	76	Prague	Czech Republic	87.5	89
73	77	Kuala Lumpur	Malaysia	87.5	87.5
75	73	Budapest	Hungary	87	90.5
75	73	Buenos Aires	Argentina	87	89.5
75	75	Montevideo	Uruguay	87	89
78	78	Port Louis	Mauritius	86.5	86
79	79	Santiago	Chile	85	85.5
79	80	Taipei	Taiwan	85	85
79	87	Athens	Greece	85	82.5
82	81	Cape Town	South Africa	84.5	83.5
83	81	Ljubljana	Slovenia	83.5	83.5
83	81	Vilnius	Lithuania	83.5	83.5
85	84	Johannesburg	South Africa	83	83
85	84	Panama City	Panama	83	83
87	87	Warsaw	Poland	82	82
88	84	Limassol	Cyprus	81.5	83
88	90	Dubai	UAE	81.5	81
88	94	Seoul	South Korea	81.5	80
91	89	Istanbul	Turkey	81	81.5
91	105	Papeete	French Polynesia	81	77.5
93	91	Monterrey	Mexico	80.5	80.5
93	92	Port Elizabeth	South Africa	80.5	80.5
93	92	Johor Baharu	Malaysia	80.5	80
93	94	Victoria	Seychelles	80.5	80
97	94	Riga	Latvia	80	80
97	98	Noumea	New Caledonia	80	79.5
97	98	Tunis	Tunisia	80	79.5
100	94	Kaohsiung	Taiwan	79.5	79.5
100	98	Abu Dhabi	UAE	79.5	79
100	101	Tallinn	Estonia	79.5	79
103	101	Brasilia	Brazil	77.5	78.5
104	105	San Jose	Costa Rica	77	77
104	105	Bangkok	Thailand	77	76.5
106	109	Bratislava	Slovakia	76.5	75.5
107	109	Sao Paulo	Brazil	76	76
108	101	Lima	Peru	75.5	77.5
108	109	Rio de Janeiro	Brazil	75.5	76
110	108	Quito	Ecuador	75	76.5
110	118	Yeochun/Yosu	South Korea	75	73.5
112	104	Manila	Philippines	74	77.5
112	112	Guayaquil	Ecuador	74	75.5
112	112	Asuncion	Paraguay	74	74
112	114	Cairo	Egypt	74	74
116	114	Ulsan	South Korea	73.5	74
116	116	Bucharest	Romania	73.5	73.5
116	116	Casablanca	Morocco	73.5	73.5
116	118	Tel Aviv	Israel	73.5	73.5
116	118	Manama	Bahrain	73.5	73
116	126	Nassau	Bahamas	73.5	71.5
122	118	Santo Domingo	Dominican Republic	73	73.5
122	123	Colombo	Sri Lanka	73	72
124	124	Zagreb	Croatia	72.5	72
125	122	Sofia	Bulgaria	72	72.5
126	126	Jerusalem	Israel	71	71
127	128	Amman	Jordan	70.5	70.5
128	130	Manaus	Brazil	70	69.5
128	130	Mexico City	Mexico	70	69.5
128	134	Rayong	Thailand	70	68.5
131	134	Shanghai	China	69	68
132	128	Harare	Zimbabwe	67	70.5
132	130	Kingston	Jamaica	67	69
132	133	Blantyre	Malawi	67	68.5
135	137	Bogota	Colombia	66	66.5
135	139	Beijing	China	66	66
135	140	La Paz	Bolivia	66	65.5
138	137	Jakarta	Indonesia	65.5	67
139	142	Kuwait City	Kuwait	65	64
140	124	Caracas	Venezuela	64.5	71.5
140	136	Guatelmala City	Guatemala	64.5	67
140	141	Lusaka	Zambia	64.5	65
140	144	Guangzhou	China	64.5	62.5
144	143	Medellin	Colombia	62.5	63
144	144	Nanjing	China	62.5	62.5
146	146	Santa Cruz	Bolivia	62	62
147	146	Nairobi	Kenya	61.5	62
147	149	Riyadh	Saudi Arabia	61.5	61.5
149	150	Ho Chi Minh City	Vietnam	61	61
150	153	Accra	Ghana	60.5	60
150	156	Jeddah	Saudi Arabia	60.5	59.5
152	146	Libreville	Gabon	60	62
152	153	Dakar	Senegal	60	60
152	153	Kiev	Ukraine	60	60
155	156	Beirut	Lebanon	59.5	59.5
156	158	St. Petersburg	Russia	59	59
156	160	Hanoi	Vietnam	59	58
156	160	Bombay	India	59	58
159	150	Moscow	Russia	58	61
159	162	Shenyang	China	58	57.5
159	170	Bangalore	India	58	54
162	150	Islamabad	Pakistan	57.5	61
162	165	Skopje	Macedonia	57.5	55.5
162	177	New Delhi	India	57.5	51.5
165	175	Madras	India	56	52
166	162	Vientiane	Laos	55.5	57.5
167	165	Damascus	Syria	55	55.5
167	169	Tehran	Iran	55	54.5
167	172	Jilin	China	55	53.5
170	172	Managua	Nicaragua	54.5	53.5
171	168	Cotonou	Benin	53.5	55
171	172	Djibouti	Djibouti	53.5	53.5
173	159	Abidjan	Ivory Coast	53	58.5
173	165	San Salvador	El Salvador	53	55.5
175	164	Karachi	Pakistan	52.5	56
175	177	Tirana	Albania	52.5	51.5
177	170	Lahore	Pakistan	52	54
178	179	Yangon	Myanmar	51.5	51
179	181	Sarajevo	Bosnia-Herzegovina	51	49.5
179	193	Belgrade	Serbia and Montenegro	51	45
181	175	Algiers	Algeria	50.5	52
181	183	San Pedro Sula	Honduras	50.5	49
183	180	Minsk	Belarus	50	50
183	181	Tripoli	Libya	50	49.5
183	185	Novosibirsk	Russia	50	48.5
186	183	Yaounde	Cameroon	49	49
186	187	Kazan	Russia	49	48
188	185	Douala	Cameroon	48.5	48.5
189	187	Havana	Cuba	48	48
190	189	Almaty	Kazaksthan	47.5	47.5
191	190	Dar es Salaam	Tanzania	47	47
192	192	Dacca	Bangladesh	46	46
193	191	Port au Prince	Haiti	45.5	46.5
194	194	Lome	Togo	44.5	44.5
195	196	Baku	Azerbaijan	44	43.5
195	199	Addis Ababa	Ethiopia	44	43
197	195	Lagos	Nigeria	43.5	44
197	196	Maputo	Mozambique	43.5	43.5
197	196	Tashkent	Uzbekisthan	43.5	43.5
200	201	Port Harcourt	Nigeria	41.5	42
201	203	Conakry	Guinea	41	41
202	199	Antananarivo	Madagascar	40	42.5
202	205	Niamey	Niger	40	39.5
202	206	Bamako	Mali	40	38.5
202	206	Kinshasa	Democratic Republic of the Congo	40	38.5
206	202	Nouakchott	Mauritania	39	41.5
206	206	Luanda	Angola	39	38.5
208	204	Sanaa	Yemen	38.5	40
208	210	N'djamena	Chad	38.5	37.5
210	209	Ouagadougou	Burkina Faso	38	38
211	213	Khartoum	Sudan	33.5	31.5
212	212	Pointe Noire	Congo	32.5	32.5
213	211	Baghdad	Iraq	30.5	33
214	214	Bangui	Central African Republic	30	29
215	215	Brazzaville	Congo	28.5	27.5
Source: Mercer Human Resource Consulting
New York = 100