EDITORIAL - Living standards

When you’re 128th out of 221, it can become a matter of seeing a glass half-full or half-empty. It’s below the median, but being ahead of 93 others isn’t too bad. Being ranked 128th among 221 other cities worldwide in terms of quality of life validates perceptions of Filipinos about Manila, or more accurately, the nation’s premier region, Metro Manila.

Mercer’s annual Quality of Living Survey of cities is based on the political, social, economic, socio-cultural and natural environment as well as the quality of health care, public services and transport, education, housing, recreation, and consumer goods.

In Asia, the city-state of Singapore as usual got the highest rank in living standards, placing 25th in the 2011 index, while Tokyo came in at 46th. But European cities dominated the Top 10, with the Austrian capital of Vienna being chosen as the most livable city in the world. Swiss cities Zurich and Bern ranked second and ninth, respectively; Auckland in New Zealand ranked third; German cities Munich, Dusseldorf and Frankfurt placed fourth, fifth and seventh, respectively; Vancouver in Canada ranked sixth, and Copenhagen in Denmark was tied at ninth with Bern.

Those cities are all in advanced economies, which have the funds and institutional strengths to keep their environment clean and green, deliver efficient public services, and allow their citizens to enjoy high standards of living. Compared with cities in developing countries, Manila’s middling rank isn’t the worst, but the room for improvement is wide.

It can do better, among other things, in ensuring public safety. The survey ranked Manila 173rd in terms of personal safety, which is based on crime levels, efficiency of law enforcement, internal stability, and international relations. In Asia, the Pakistani city of Karachi was ranked lowest in this area, placing 216th.

In the past decades, standards of living have risen in many Asian countries, with dramatic changes seen in their bustling cities. It should not be impossible for the Philippines to achieve the same standards. The Quality of Living Survey is just the latest study showing the slide in human development indicators in the Philippines. The nation has to do more to stop that slide.