Singapore hailed as most attractive Asian market to do business: survey

Other outstanding cities following Singapore include Tokyo, Hong Kong and Seoul.

Singapore ranked top one in Asia and landed 25th place globally in terms of having the most attractive environment to do business, according to Mercer’s Quality of Living ranking.

“We continue to see huge forward-thinking policies that have enabled Singapore to develop economically and infrastructurally, bringing benefits to its residents, whilst making the city Asia’s most attractive destination for foreign talent,” says Mario Ferraro, regional practice leader for Mercer Global Mobility – Asia, Middle East, Africa & Turkey.

Globally, Vienna tops the ranking for the 10th year running, closely followed by Zurich. Nabbing the third spot are Auckland, Munich and Vancouver – the highest ranking city in North America for the last 10 years.

In Asia, Singapore is followed by the five Japanese cities of Tokyo (49th), Kobe (49th), Yokohama (55th), Osaka (58th), and Nagoya (62nd), and then Hong Kong (71st) and Seoul (77th), which rose two places this year as political stability returned following the arrest of its president last year.

In South East Asia, other notable cities include Kuala Lumpur (85th), Bangkok (133rd), Manila (137th), and Jakarta (142nd); and in mainland China: Shanghai (103rd), Beijing (120th), Guangzhou (122nd) and Shenzen (132nd). Of all the cities in East and South East Asia, Singapore (30th) ranked the highest in Asia and Phnom Penh (199th) the lowest, for personal safety.