Not only do Vancouverites live in the world's third-best urban centre, but they also enjoy the highest overall quality of life in Canada.

A view of the Vancouver Trade and Convention Centre from the Port of Vancouver.
(Chuck Stoody/Canadian Press)

So says an annual international survey published Monday that ranked 215 cities around the globe, based on 39 criteria measuring such quality-of-life determinants as personal safety and social, economic and environmental conditions.

RANK	CITY	SCORE
1	Zurich, Switzerland	108.1
2	Geneva, Switzerland	108
3	Vancouver, Canada/ Vienna, Austria	107.7
5	Auckland, New Zealand/Dusseldorf, Germany	107.3
7	Frankfurt, Germany	107.1
8	Munich, Germany	106.9
9	Bern, Switzerland/ Sydney, Australia	106.5

Vancouver — which tied with Vienna, Austria, at 107.7 points — fell just short of top-ranked Swiss cities Zurich (108.1 points) and runner-up Geneva (108 points).

But Vancouver was not the lone Canadian city to crack the top 25.

Mercer Human Resource Consulting, which conducted the survey, also included Toronto at 15th, Ottawa at 18th, Montreal at 22nd and Calgary at 24th. Every Canadian city scored better than all the U.S. cities surveyed.

Still, Vancouver led Canadian cities in the global ranking even after foul weather last year that saw storms knock out electricity for days and even set off a boil-water advisory.

Crime was weak spot

So where did Vancouver falter? Mercer research spokeswoman Danielle Bushen noted that Vancouver scored well all over the board except in its weak spot — crime.

"Crime rates in North America tend to be slightly higher than in Europe in general and this holds true when you compare locations like Zurich and Geneva to Vancouver," Bushen said.

Bushen said the frigid Canadian winters do count against places like Calgary, Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto, but for the most part they are stable and safe places to live.

"All of those things that could cause real differences in quality of life, and really create significant limitations on a person's quality of life, just aren't an issue. So we rate very highly," she said.

In terms of health and sanitation, Calgary scored top points as the cleanest city in the world, followed by Ottawa in fourth place, Montreal and Vancouver tied for 10th and Toronto at 21st.

The survey scores were determined by how they stacked up against one "base city," in this case New York, which was assigned a base score of 100.

By comparison, the scores for the Canadian cities were:

• Toronto at 15th place, 105.4 points.
• Ottawa at 18th place, 104.8 points.
• Montreal at 22nd place, 104.3 points.
• Calgary at 24th place, 103.6 points.

The wartorn Iraqi capital of Baghdad was considered the least desirable city to live in, with a score of 14.5.