Kingston performs poorly on Mercer list of global cities Behind Port of Spain but ahead of Havana
From a new list of 231 cities around the world, Kingston ranks at 153, between Ho Chi Ming City in Vietnam and Mumbai, the Indian megapolis at 154.
The ranking comes from Mercer’s 19th annual Quality of Living survey, which was released earlier this week.
The survey considers aspects such as city infrastructure, transportatiion, reliable electricity and water supply. It is used largely by internatioanl firms in helping them to decide where to invest and how to compensate expatriate company workers.
The top-ranked city in the world was Vienna, capital of Austria, followed by Zurich in Switzerland and Auckland in New Zealand.
Bottom-ranked was Baghdad, capital of war-torn Iraq in the Middle East.
Within the Caribbean region, Kingston performed more poorly than most listed cities, including top-ranked Pointe-Ã -Pitre, capital of the French island of Guadeloupe and San Juan, capital of the US territory of Puerto Rico.
The highest-ranked city from an independent state within the Caribbean region was Panama City, capital of Panama at 97th position. San Jose, capital of Costa Rica followed at 110.
The highest-ranked Caricom city was Nassau, capital of the Bahamas at 113. Santo Domingo, capital of the Dominican Republic, was ranked at 139.
Kingston was also topped by Port of Spain, capital of Trinidad and Tobago, which ranked 147th, tying with Chongqing in China and placing just above Qingdao, another Chinese city at 149.
Kingston did beat two other Caribbean cities though – Havana, capital of Cuba at 192 and Port au Prince, captial of Haiti at 228, just above Baghdad. But when it came to just infrastructure specifically, Port-au-Prince took bottom position at 231, with Baghdad just ahead of it.
Caracas, capital of Venezuela, also performed poorly, placed at 189.
The highest-rated US city was San Francisco at 29 — four spaces below Singapore at 25. London, capital of the United Kingdom, was placed 40th, and New York City at 44. Closer to home, Atlanta was ranked 65th, and Miami — sometimes referred to as ‘Kingston 21’ was placed at 68.
Over in Africa, Accra, capital of Ghana, placed at 166, with Lagos, the largest Nigerian city, placed at 212. The highest-placed African city was Durban in South Africa, ranked at 87, followed by Cape Town, also in South Africa, at 94.
