Manila still miraculously managed to rank 136th in Mercer’s Quality of Life Survery 2016 — exactly the same spot we got last year.
Given the city’s recent airport horror stories, killer traffic and super slow internet, it’s actually quite surprising that we did not rank lower.
The Mercer survery is conducted annually to help multinational companies evaluate the compensation provided for employees assigned abroad. The list is based on various factors including personal safety, social and economic conditions, public services, recreation and environment.
This means that foreign workers assigned in Manila can get a “hardship premium” added to their salaries based on the ranking. Pampalubag-loob for having to deal with all the difficulties (Manila traffic really is a test of patience!) that they’ll encounter while living in the city.
Out of the 230 cities on the list, Vienna got the top spot.
In Asia, Singapore, as expected, ranked the highest at 26th. It is followed by Japan at 44th. Hongkong is at the 70th spot. Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok both ranked higher than Manila at 86th and 129th respectively.
The city with the lowest ranking is Baghdad in Iraq.
Well, since they’re in the Philippines anyway, expats might want to spend their hard-earned extra compensation by visiting our local destinations. Manila might be bad, but we do have a beach that is among the top 10 in the world.
