Basel’s debut in Mercer’s global index evaluating quality of living was a resounding success. Expats in Switzerland handed out top grades to the city, which tied with Sydney, Australia, for tenth place. Vienna once again came in first place, followed by Zurich, Auckland, Munich and Vancouver. With Geneva (8th place) and Bern (14th), two other Swiss cities made it among the top 20.

A total of 231 large cities were compared in this year’s ranking, which analyses and compares living conditions according to 39 factors, such as political and social environment, economic conditions, and natural environment. Factors like health and education are also taken into consideration.

The annual survey is conducted to enable multinational companies and other organisations compare different cities when looking at where to place employees for international assignments.