The worlds best places to live, 2009 top 30.

[thanmuwa]

I am not surprised that Vancouver tied for 4th and Toronto placed 15th, if I ever left Scotland, Canada would be my number one choice.
There seemed to a lot of places selected from continental Europe, especially Germany, and quite a few from the antipodes as well, of which Sydney was a surprise inclusion as I'd often heard it associated with high crime rates.
Disappointed neither Glasgow nor Edinburgh made it to the top 30.
One has to wonder how objective their research was.

In amongst the various criteria was lifespan. In any comparison where that is given any significant weighting, Edinburgh and particularly Glasgow are going to suffer major negative points. Scotland has some of the lowest life expectancies in the western world, for example the life expectancy of a male in the Calton Ward of Glasgow is 53.9 years, significantly lower than the averages for Iraq amongst other places. Combined with a middle of the road GDP, Scotland has no chance of making it high on a table like that!