Hong Kong continues long-term descent in global livability rankings

Hong Kong has fallen to 29^th position in the global rankings of the most livable locations for Asian expatriates, and remains the 15^th most livable location in the APA according to the Location Ratings survey by ECA International

Back in 2013, Hong Kong was ranked 11^th worldwide and 9^th in Asia Pacific in terms of its livability for Asian expatriates, However, there has been a gradual decline in Hong Kong’s global and regional rankings to 29^th and 15^th respectively.” Hong Kong’s fall is due to a combination of internal and external factors.

Lee Quane, Regional Director – Asia, ECA International commented, “We have witnessed improvements of living conditions in several cities in Australia, Japan and New Zealand over the past five years. At the same time, Hong Kong has continued to suffer from poor air quality levels. Combined with ongoing socio-political tensions in Hong Kong, it has therefore fallen in our rankings over this period.”

APAC highlights

Singapore continues to top ECA’s global and APAC rankings, as it has done over the course of the past five years. Singapore continues to rank higher than Hong Kong owing to environmental factors such as lower levels of air pollution and the fact that Singapore is spared the impact of natural disasters such as typhoons that afflict Hong Kong annually. Quane noted, “However, the gap between the two locations in terms of our rankings has widened over the past five years as the Lion city has been spared from the tensions that we have seen in Hong Kong in recent years.”

Of China’s Tier 1 cities, Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou have all seen marginal improvements over the past year in terms of infrastructure. Shanghai has risen by three places in the past year to sit in 107^th place in the global rankings and remains the most liveable of the mainland Chinese locations assessed. Shanghai also saw the most significant improvements in China since the previous last survey.

Quan commented, “The quality of health services, the availability of goods & services and infrastructure have all seen improvements in Shanghai over the past 12 months.While there remains a sizeable gap in living conditions between Hong Kong and Shanghai, this is narrowing as living conditions deteriorate in Hong Kong and it falls in our rankings while conditions improve in Shanghai, causing it to rise.”

Macau is still one of the top 20 locations in the region to live in, coming in at 19^th position in Asia Pacific. However, it has fallen by one place in the global rankings this year to 82^nd position. Taipei remains greater China’s second best location to live in, ranked at 69^th globally in 2017, an improvement of two places on last year’s rankings.

Global overview

Top 35 most livable locations in Asia Pacific for Asian expatriates