Quality of Living - Africa forgotten?
Yes, Ottawa is the best Canadian city (see here), but if moving to Canada doesn’t strike your fancy, can I interest you in Switzerland? According to Mercer Consulting, the top two cities in the world based on quality of living (versus quality of life, which is explained in the report as an individual measure) are Zurich and Geneva. A Canadian city, Vancouver, ranks third on this list, and on this survey, being a “little big city” does not serve Ottawa as well, and it ranks in 18th place, just ahead of Stockholm, Sweden, and Perth, Australia. This 2007 Worldwide Quality of Living Survey is based on data collected at the end of 2006 and considers countries based on 39 determinants of quality of living, including health and sanitation (a category where Calgary, Alberta, Canada) takes top place.
This survey also provides a listing of the top five countries on each continent and what is telling is that no countries from the continent of Africa appear to be ranked; the continent of Africa does not appear on the list. This is not surprising, perhaps, given the images of Africa that are shown on our televisions or on the internet, but surely after years of being asked to provide aid, years of other continents providing financial aid, there are some cities in Africa that can be held up as examples for the continent? I am sure there are, and if not, should continents that are better off provide more aid? Is it important that all of the world have at least a base level quality of liviing, or is it ok that a wide a gap in quality of living exists between cities like Zurich and Lagos, Nigeria? I hope that somebody reading the results of this survey will feel led to ask why every other continent makes the list and Africa is lagging so far behind that not one of its cities is on the list (even at the lower end of the list!). Antarctica was also not mentioned, but this is perhaps because the continent contains no indigenous peoples; the majority of its inhabitants are scientists using the continent for research purposes.
A disclaimer: the entire report is not available so it is possible that Africa is represented, or perhaps the data that was required to compile the information wasn’t available, but was it even requested?
More exploration is needed, and I will follow up on this story.
May 9th, 2007 at 10:32 am
I have a feeling that Africa was not forgotten, that it just did not make the list. I’m not sure where you see the pleasant pictures of Africa, I mostly see pictures of people starving. Movies certainly don’t help either. Did anyone watch Blood Diamond recently? Africa does not appear to be a happy place to go or be.
My friend recently went to Africa and stayed for two weeks, and her blog did not paint a cheerful picture either.
May 10th, 2007 at 9:42 am
“…the continent of Africa does not appear on the list. This is not surprising, perhaps, given the images of Africa that are shown on our televisions or on the internet”
The above quote from my entry acknowledges that it might not be surprising that the continent of Africa did not make the list because the pictures on the tv paint a rather bleak picture of the continent (I was not referring to pleasant pictures at all by that quote!).
Your friend went to one part of one country in Africa; all of Africa is not a desolate wasteland full of starving people who live in huts, although (many? most? the majority?) parts of Africa are.
And Blood Diamonds, which I haven’t yet seen, is also about one country (Sierra Leone, I believe) in one continent.
I can understand why Africa didn’t make the cut but I fear excluding the continent as a whole perpetuates the idea or impression that all of Africa is like the images on tv (please don’t take that to mean that I think Africa should have been included if it didn’t meet the standards necessary. I’m merely asking if any African cities were examined).
**Again, my disclaimer is that I did not read the entire report :)**
May 10th, 2007 at 11:11 am
Oops, my bad. I thought you had said you saw pleasant pictures of Africa, because I have certainly not.
We all live semi-sheltered lives and only get to see what the media allows us to see. And the media is bias.
I’ve been down here in the United States for about six months now. And yesterday, someone asked me if we had electricity in Canada, and whether or not I went skiing last weekend when I was home.