Durban has once again topped the list of the best South African city to live in, in the annual Mercer Quality of Living survey.
Durban has for a third consecutive year been ranked the South African city with the highest quality of life, in the international Mercer’s 19th Quality of Living survey.
Durban is ranked 87th globally‚ followed by Cape Town in 94th place and Johannesburg in 96th.
The Mercer Quality of Living survey aids multinational companies to set benchmarks to compensate employees fairly when placing them on international assignments.
Durban Mayor Zandile Gumede said on Friday that this proved that eThekwini Municipality had one of the best service-delivery programmes in Africa and continued to make a positive impact in the lives of its residents.
“Our municipality continuously strives to ensure that our 3.7 million residents enjoy an improved quality of life through the services we render. The municipality’s new radical economic transformation framework aims to accelerate service delivery, provide economic opportunities to poor and unemployed residents and grow the small business sector,” said Gumede.
Vienna tops Mercer’s list‚ followed by Zurich‚ Auckland‚ Munich and Vancouver. The top five highest-ranked cities in the Middle East and Africa region were Dubai‚ Abu Dhabi‚ Port Louis‚ Durban‚ and Cape Town.
Ilya Bonic‚ senior partner and president of Mercer’s Career business‚ said that easy access to transportation‚ reliable electricity‚ and drinkable water are all important considerations when determining hardship allowances based on differences between a given assignee’s home and host locations.
“Economic instability‚ social unrest‚ and growing political upheaval all add to the complex challenge multinational companies face when analysing quality of living for their expatriate workforce‚” he said.
“For multinationals and governments it is vital to have quality of living information that is accurate‚ detailed‚ and reliable. It not only enables these employers to compensate employees appropriately‚ but it also provides a planning benchmark and insights into the often-sensitive operational environment that surrounds their workforce.
“In uncertain times‚ organisations that plan to establish themselves and send staff to a new location should ensure they get a complete picture of the city‚ including its viability as a business location and its attractiveness to key talent‚” he added.
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