Quality of Life in Eastern Europe's Capital Cities

According to the 2010 Mercer Quality of Living survey, the region of Eastern Europe has seen the highest increase in quality of living in Europe during the most recent period of data collection (2008-2009).

Prague comes in as the highest ranking East/East Central European city at number 70. The Czech capital is closely followed by the Hungarian capital, Budapest, at number 73 and the Slovenian capital, Ljubljana, at 77. (Mercer)

The Baltic countries are slightly lower on the list with Vilnius at number 79, Tallinn at 89, and Riga at 91 (Kyiv Post). Warsaw ranks 84 in the survey.

Kiev, Ukraine's capital, has a lower quality of living than the above cities at number 161, but ranks higher than Moscow, which comes in at 166.

The Quality of Living survey measures a variety of factors including education, health, political environment, economic environment, housing, and natural environment. A more complete list of categories and factors that define quality of living can be found at the Mercer website.