China’s economy is now bigger than Japan’s, but less noticed is the fact that Asia’s so-called newly industrialised economies are becoming richer than Japan. (via Daily chart: Asian economic rankings | The Economist)
Ottawa has been named the best place in Canada to live for the third straight year by MoneySense magazine.The publication cited the national capital’s “cultural offerings and family-friendly lifestyle” as keys to its top ranking. (via Ottawa named best place to live in Canada)
The same survey (relying on hard economic data) cites Regina, Red Deer, Halifax, Burlington etc:
“Vancouver’s ranking was 56th, down from 29th last year, as MoneySense noted the high cost of housing in the city. Toronto was 47th, while Montreal was 149th.
Rounding out the top 10 were: Burlington, Ont., at second: Kingston, Ont., at third; Brandon, Man., at sixth; Fredericton at seventh; Edmonton at eighth; and Winnipeg at 10th.”
A more international survey by Mercer found that Vancouver is best in Americas:
“Canadian cities dominated the North American portion of the list, which also included Ottawa (14th overall), Toronto (15th) and Montreal (22nd).
Honolulu (29th) and San Francisco (30th) were the highest-scoring U.S. cities on the list, which ranked 221 cities.
Vienna, Austria, placed first overall, followed by Zurich, Switzerland; Auckland, New Zealand; and Munich, Germany. Dusseldorf, Germany, tied with Vancouver for fifth spot.
Canadian cities also fared well on this list, with Calgary, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto and Vancouver tying for 17th place overall. Luxembourg took top spot as the safest city in the world.
Chicago, Honolulu, Houston and San Francisco all ranked 53rd for safety — the highest spots for U.S. cities.
The lowest ranking cities in the western hemisphere for personal safety were Kingston, Jamaica (192), which fared slightly better than Bogota, Colombia (196), Port-au-Prince, Haiti (202), and Caracas, Venezuela (205).”
When it comes to “economic momentum”, Toronto was first according to CIBC World Markets:
“Toronto showed the fastest economic momentum in the third quarter of 2011 of any of the 25 census metropolitan areas included in the index, with an index of 23.0, its highest level in more than 10 years, according to the report, which is compiled twice a year.”
Edmonton was 2nd, Kitchener 3rd, Halifax 4th, Vacouver 5th.
What constitutes a balance between work and life? The OECD settled on three chief variables: (1) The share of the labor force that works very long hours (more than 50 hours a week); (2) time spent on “leisure and personal care” (defined in contrast to paid or unpaid work as spending time with friends, going to the movies, pursuing hobbies, sleeping, eating, etc.); and (3) employment rates for women who have children. (via The 23 Best Countries for Work-Life Balance (We Are Number 23) - Derek Thompson - Business - The Atlantic)
