Baghdad bottoms world’s quality living ranking
Uncollected garbage in Baghdad.
The 19th Quality of Living Ranking, released recently by Mercer, a world leading human resources consultancy firm, has ranked Baghdad 230th, putting it at the bottom of the chart right after war-torn Yemen’s capital Sanaa (229th) and Central Africa’s Banghi (230th).
Vienna topped the world’s chart in overall quality of living.
The Iraqi capital is also ranking the lowest when compared to Middle East and North African countries, which are topped by Dubai (the world’s 74th).
According to the ranking, “Mercer’s survey also includes a city infrastructure ranking that assesses each city’s supply of electricity, drinking water, telephone and mail services, and public transportation as well as traffic congestion and the range of international flights available from local airports.”
In that respect, Baghdad comes before Port au Prince, which bottoms the world’s list.
Baghdad has seen almost daily bombings targeting civilians and security members since Islamic State militants took over several areas of Iraq in 2014.
Baghdad ranked second in UNAMI’s monthly list of Iraqi cities most hit by violence in February, with 120 deaths and 300 injuries counted by the international organization. The war against IS has badly damaged infrastructure and worsened living conditions at cities occupied by the extremist group.