Hyderabad beats Mumbai, Delhi, ranks best among Indian cities to live in

Vienna has retained its place as the world's best city to live and Baghdad is the worst, an annual global survey showed on Tuesday wherein Hyderabad has topped the charts among the Indian cities.

However, none of the Indian city has managed to find a place among the top-100 and Hyderabad is ranked 139th (one place down from last year) globally, while national capital Delhi has moved down six places to 161st rank, lowest among the seven Indian cities on the list of 230 places.

Pune is at 144th place, followed by Bangalore at 145th, Chennai at 150th, Mumbai at 152nd and Kolkata at 160th among the Indian cities, as per the list compiled by global consulting major Mercer. Pune has moved up one place since last year, while Mumbai has retained its position.

In the top-five positions globally, Vienna (Austria) is followed by Zurich (Switzerland), Auckland (New Zealand), Munich (Germany) and Vancouver (Canada). London is ranked lower at 39th, Paris is at 37th, while New York is at 44th place.

Releasing its 18th annual Quality of Living Survey, Mercer said that despite recent security issues, social unrest, and concern about the region's economic outlook, European cities continue to offer some of the world's highest quality of living.

"Safety, in particular, is a key factor for MNCs to consider when sending expatriate workers abroad, both because it raises concerns about the expat's personal safety and because it has a significant impact on the cost of global compensation programs," it added. In Asia, Singapore ranks the highest with 26th global rank.

Mercer said the survey is aimed at helping multinational companies and other employers to compensate employees fairly when placing them on international assignments. In Asia-Pacific, Dhaka (214) is ranked is the lowest.

For personal safety, the rankings for Asian cities vary greatly, Mercer said. On this front, Singapore ranks better (8th place globally), while New Delhi is at 142nd place.