1. France (was #1 last year as well)
2. Australia (moved up from #5 in 2009)
3. Switzerland (down one spot)
4. Germany (up from the #8 spot in 2009)
5. New Zealand (up from #9)
6. Luxembourg (down from #4)
7. USA (down from #3)
8. Belgium (down from #6)
9. Canada (a big jump up, from #19)
10. Italy (down from #7)

Top Ten Retirement Havens from Live and Invest Overseas

1. Argentina
2. Belize
3. Chile
4. Croatia
5. Dominican Republic
6. France
7. Malaysia
8. Panama
9. Uruguay
10. Vietnam

Mercer’s Best Cities for 2009:

1. Vienna, Austria (1st)
2. Zurich, Switzerland (2nd)
3. Geneva, Switzerland (3rd )
4. Vancouver, Canada (tied 4th)
5. Auckland, New Zealand (tied 4th)

Forbes list of The World’s Most Expensive Cities to Live. According to Forbes, the 10 most expensive cities are:

1. Tokyo, Japan
2. Osaka, Japan
3. Moscow, Russia
4. Geneva, Switzerland
5. Hong Kong, China
6. Zurich, Switzerland
7. Copenhagen, Denmark
8. New York, USA
9. Beijing, China
10. Singapore

2009 Best Retirement Havens, according to International Living:

1. Cuenca, Ecuador
2. Merida, Mexico
3. Coronado, Panama
4. Punta del Este, Uruguay
5. Calitri, Italy

So there you have it. Some highly respected lists from 2009, and one for 2010.

Best wishes for a happy expat New Year!

1. Forbes list of The World’s Most Expensive Cities to Live. According to Forbes, the 10 most expensive cities are:
   • Tokyo, Japan

   • Osaka, Japan
   • Moscow, Russia
   • Geneva, Switzerland
   • Hong Kong, China
   • Zurich, Switzerland
   • Copenhagen, Denmark
   • New York, USA
   • Beijing, China
   • Singapore

   
   

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   Finance Your Life Overseas

   The Travel Writer's Life

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2. Foreign Policy’s Global Cities Index. This list, according to the magazine, identifies cities which

   “continue to forge global links despite intensely complex economic environments. They are the ones making urbanization work to their advantage by providing the vast opportunities of global integration to their people; measuring cities’ international presence captures the most accurate picture of the way the world works.”

   The study measured 24 metrics across five dimensions which include business activity, human capital, information exchange, cultural experience and political engagement. The cities that made the final cut include:

   • New York

   • London
   • Paris
   • Tokyo
   • Hong Kong
   • Los Angeles
   • Singapore
   • Chicago
   • Seoul
   • Toronto

3. Environmental Science and Technology measured Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Global Cities. Greenhouse gas emissions of 10 cities were studied, and the results were published in the Environmental Science & Technology journal. In order, from highest emissions down, were:
   • Denver

   • Los Angeles
   • Toronto
   • Cape Town (tied for third place)
   • New York
   • London
   • Prague
   • Geneva
   • Barcelona

4. Mercer’s 2009 Quality of Living Survey, posted here previously. Best quality of life, according to this survey, can be found in:
   • Vienna

   • Zurich
   • Geneva
   • Vancouver
   • Auckland (tied for 4th place)
   • Dusseldorf
   • Munich
   • Sydney

5. International Living’s 2009 World’s Best Retirement Havens lists the top five cities, then continues with countries.
   • Cuenca, Ecuador

   • Merida, Mexico
   • Coronado, Panama
   • Punta del Este, Uruguay
   • Calitri, Italy

6. Reader’s Digest compiled a list of the world’s Most Polite Cities, and their results may surprise you. Two reporters fanned out across the cities and tested whether the locals would hold a door for them and/or help them pick up dropped documents, and whether sales clerks would thank them for their purchases. Surprisingly, the Big Apple scored #1 according to these limited measures. Top 10 cities for courtesy were:
   • New York

   • Zurich
   • Toronto
   • Berlin
   • Sao Paulo
   • Zagreb
   • Auckland
   • Warsaw
   • Mexico City
   • Stockholm

7. Top Ten Global Outsourcing Cities. Where are American jobs going? According to an article at Trendsniff, it’s Asia, Asia, Asia. Cebu City, Philippines takes the no. 1 spot for customer service. Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Pune, India rank highly, as does Makati City (Manila) Philippines. IT outsourcing is a little less Asia-centric, with centers in Central and Eastern Europe. Science R&D, testing and development is heading for China.
8. UBS Prices & Earnings Comparison looks at earnings and cost of living, and draws some interesting conclusions. The study put together a “basket” of (mostly food) purchases and drilled down until they could determine how many of these baskets could be purchased by wage-earners in different countries, after deducting taxes and social security contributions. One of the items in the basket was an iPod Nano. The study found an average wage-earner in Zurich or New York could purchase the Nano with one day’s wages, while it took an average earner in Mumbai 20 days, or basically a month of work, to buy it.

   In terms of purchasing power, top cities are

   • Zurich

   • Sydney
   • Luxembourg
   • Dublin
   • Miami
   • Los Angeles
   • Geneva
   • New York
   • Chicago
   • Nicosia. Yes, Nicosia. Isn’t that on the island of Cyprus?

   I did spot a huge flaw in this study, however. Some mechanism should have been used for deducting cost of health care from the disposable income, which USB calculated as earnings less taxes and social security. Since some of the countries pay for health care from taxes, results favor wage-earners in countries which do not. I suspect that the USA would not be represented among the top 10 on this list if health care costs were properly balanced. You can read the entire report here.

Vienna State Opera

Forbes Magazine has published a list of the top 20 cities in the world to live in. Europe took the most honors, with three of little Switzerland’s cities (Zurich, Geneva and Bern) in the Top 20 and Vienna, Austria at the top of the list. There were two from Australia (Melbourne and Sydney) and two from New Zealand (Auckland and Wellington). Canada was represented by three provincial capitals, Ottawa, Toronto and Vancouver. The USA, Central and South America, Asia and Africa were conspicuous by their absense. Read the whole article.

The study was conducted by Mercer, and you can read their version here.