Geneva is considered by many a global city, the world capital of bureaucracy, because of the large number of international organizations, including the headquarters of many of the agencies of the United Nations and the Red Cross. The Geneva Conventions (which chiefly concern the treatment of wartime non-combatants and prisoners of war) were of course signed here as well.

Geneva is the second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous city of the French-speaking Switzerland. Continue reading »

Switzerland (or the Swiss Confederation) is one of the richest countries in the world, a relatively small alpine country in the middle of Europe. Bordered by Germany, France, Italy, Austria and Liechtenstein, Switzerland has a long history of neutrality and hosts many international organizations, such as the Red Cross, the World Trade Organization and one United Nations European office.

Switzerland has four national languages: German, French, Italian and Romansh. The country’s economic centres are Geneva, Basel and Zurich. Continue reading »

The 2007 Quality of Living Survey of Mercer Human Resource Consulting places Zurich on the top spot, followed by another city of Switzerland, Geneva, the Canadian Vancouver sharing the third place with Vienna (Austria).

The quality-of-living rating has been established based on 39 factors. How welcome expatriates feel in these cities has been a major factor. This is also why you will find here plenty of cities from well economically developed countries that receive immigrants, such as Canada, Australia or New Zealand. Continue reading »

The 2008 Quality of Living Survey of Mercer Human Resource Consulting also provides a Ranking by Personal Safety, with the top 50 cities in the world. According to this survey, Luxembourg ranks first, followed by Helsinki (Finland) and three cities of Switzerland (Bern, Geneva and Zurich), all last four tied for the second place.

The survey identified those cities with the highest personal safety ranking based on relationships with other countries, internal stability, crime and effectiveness of law enforcement. Continue reading »

The 2008 Quality of Living Survey of Mercer Human Resource Consulting places again Zurich on the top spot, followed by another city of Switzerland, Geneva, which shares the second place with Vienna (Austria). At the top, thing are somehow similar to the 2007 ranking for quality of living: Vienna is the city which slightly moved up, but still being closely followed by the Canadian Vancouver.

The quality-of-living rating has been established based on 39 factors. It is important to remark that how welcome expatriates are feeling in these cities has been a major factor. Continue reading »