by Durban has, for a third consecutive year been ranked the top South African city. According to the international Mercer’s 19th Quality of Living survey, it has the highest quality of life in the country.
World Class Service Delivery
Durban Mayor Zandile Gumede said on Friday that this proved that eThekwini Municipality had one of the best service-delivery programs in Africa. It continues 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. It will also provide economic opportunities to poor and unemployed residents and grow the small business sector,” said Gumede.
Gumede said that over the past 23 years of democracy, eThekwini Municipality had improved access to public services. These include electricity, water, sanitation, roads, solid waste, community and emergency services and free basic services.
The annual survey ranked Durban the best city in South Africa, placing it 87th in the world.
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Cape Town and Johannesburg followed closely, in 94th place and 96th place, respectively.
“Last year, Durban achieved this accolade, coming ahead of Cape Town and Johannesburg. It was placed the second best city in Africa after Port Louis in Mauritius,” Gumede said.
“Vienna occupies first place for overall quality of living for the eighth year running, with the rest of the top-10 list mostly filled by European cities. Zurich is in second place, with Munich (4), Dusseldorf (6), Frankfurt (7), Geneva (8), Copenhagen (9). Basel, a newcomer to the list, is in 10th place.”
World Rankings
The only non-European cities in the top 10 were Auckland (3) and Vancouver (5). The highest-ranking cities in Asia and Latin America were Singapore (25) and Montevideo (79), respectively.
Mercer’s authoritative survey is one of the world’s most comprehensive. It is conducted annually to enable multinational companies and other organisations to compensate employees fairly when placing them on international assignments.
Mercer’s survey also includes a city infrastructure ranking. This assesses the supply of electricity, drinking water, telephone and mail services, and public transportation. It also examines the traffic congestion and the range of international flights available from local airports.
Singapore tops the city infrastructure ranking, followed by Frankfurt and Munich, tied in second place.
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