European cities 'the best places to live,' rank highest in quality of life and personal safety

Vienna ranks at the top of the list worldwide. Only 17 U.S. cities made the 230-city list.

Video includes clips from the Luxembourg National Tourist Board and San Francisco Travel Association.


European cities are the best places to live, according to a new report from human resources consulting firm Mercer.

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The report says, despite recent security issues, social issues and subpar economic outlooks, European cities still outrank much of the rest of the world.

According to Mercer's 18th Quality of Life survey, the Austrian capital of Vienna ranked at the top of the list worldwide for the seventh straight time.

Zurich (Switzerland), Auckland (New Zealand), Munich (Germany) and Vancouver (Canada) rounded out the top five.

European cities took eight of the top 10 spots and 17 of the top 25 spots.

The first U.S. city on the list is San Francisco, which ranks No. 28, one spot lower than last year.

The U.S.' highest-ranking city is followed by Boston (No. 34), Honolulu (35), Chicago (43) and New York City (44). In all, 17 U.S. cities made the 230-city long list.

In terms of safety, the tiny country of Luxembourg ranked as the safest, followed closely by Bern (Switzerland), Helsinki (Finland) and Zurich (Switzerland). Baghdad (Iraq) and Damascus (Syria) ranked as the world's least-safe cities.

Chicago, Honolulu, Houston and San Francisco all tied for No. 54 in worldwide safety, the highest ranking for a U.S. city.

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