Vancouver has again come in second in a worldwide quality of life survey of 215 cities by the international consulting firm Mercer Human Resource Consulting.

Vancouver (which tied with Vienna and Geneva) lost top honours to Zurich for the second year in a row.

Other Canadian cities also ranked high in Mercer's survey. Toronto was 12th (up from 18th place last year), Ottawa was in 20th spot (from 25th in the 2002 survey), Montreal was 23rd (25th last year), and Calgary 26th (31st last year).

Overall quality of life rankings, which consider factors like political, natural and economic environments, again placed Zurich as the best place to situate workers.

Other factors considered in the quality of life survey were medical standards, public services and transportation, education, the quality of recreational activities and housing.

"Canadian cities are the safest in North America, due to strict law enforcement and low crime rates," Mercer said.

Overall, the top U.S. city was San Francisco, tied for 20th spot. London came in 39th and Rome was 68th.

Mercer said its rating of Scandinavian cities fell because of "evidence relating to seasonal affective disorders caused by shorter daylight hours." Oslo, for instance, fell from 15th spot to 31st.

The worst city to live and work was Brazzaville Congo. Baghdad came in not much better – 213th spot.