RD:Worst Quality of Life for Ex-Pats [Dominicanos Hoy]

AlterEgo

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According to a Reuters story out of London on DominicanosHOY, the Dominican Republic has a poor quality of life for ex-pats. As someone who plans to retire there in the near future, I disagree, but here it is:
Dominicanos HOY: RD: entre peores calidad de vida para expatriados

Rough English translation:RD: among worst quality of life for expatriates.
London .- Dominican Republic is among the countries with the worst rates in terms of quality of life for expatriates who live here, this for the last years of political turbulence and economic, as well as natural disasters.
Vienna is the city of the world with the best quality of life for expatriate workers, according to a new ranking of the consultancy Mercer, which now stands at twenty top thirteen European cities and in the past, the Iraqi capital.
After the Austrian capital, two Swiss cities Zurich and Geneva, the Canadian Vancouver and Auckland in New Zealand, which are tied in fourth place.
Immediately after appearing on the list three German cities - Dusseldorf, Munich and Frankfurt, followed by the Swiss capital, Berne, Sydney (Australia), Wellington and Copenhagen, also in Australia.
Brussels is ranked fourteenth, Berlin in the sixteenth, twentieth place in Stockholm, Paris in the thirty-second, thirty-fifth in Tokyo, London, in the 38th, Milan, at 41, 42 in Barcelona, in Lisbon 44, and Madrid, at 48, immediately followed by New York.
As regards the quality of infrastructure, Singapore tops the list, followed by Munich (Germany), Copenhagen, two Japanese cities, Tsukuba and Yokohama, D?sseldorf (Germany), Vancouver (Canada), Frankfurt (Germany), Hong Kong and London, both tied in eighth place, while Madrid is only shown at 43.
In the Americas, San Juan de Puerto Rico is ranked 72 in terms of quality of life, followed by Montevideo at 79, while Santiago de Chile have the best infrastructure across Central and South America and the capital of Haiti in the bottom of the table at the 212 - both in quality of life for its infrastructure.
The report's authors point out that many South American countries have in recent years political and economic turbulence, which have adversely affected the quality of life of expatriates who reside there.
This is in addition to natural disasters such as hurricanes that have severely beaten Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Cuba and the United States.
The report acknowledges, however, that some Central American countries have experienced positive changes with an increase in their living standards and cites - Costa Rica, Guatemala or El Salvador.
In the Middle East and Africa, Dubai (post 77) in the United Arab Emirates and Port Louis in Mauritius (82), are the cities where expatriates can enjoy better quality of life, while Cape Town has since fallen from 80 - 87.
According Slagin Parakatil, head of the team which developed the index, due to the economic crisis, many multinationals are trying to reduce jobs in the outside and take into account criteria such as quality of life comes to compensate their employees .
Very important too, says Prakatil are infrastructure, which "have a dramatic impact on quality of life experienced by expatriates."
In preparing its report, the consultant used criteria such as political stability, crime rates, banking and currency regulations, health status, educational standard, the quality of public services and recreation, housing and the environment.
 

DR Mpe

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In preparing its report, the consultant used criteria such as political stability, crime rates, banking and currency regulations, health status, educational standard, the quality of public services and recreation, housing and the environment.

Obviously not using criterias such as weather, beauty and prices for a sweet drink.
 

cobraboy

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That's a funny article. Imagine living in Zurich on what it takes to live here...:cheeky:
 

J D Sauser

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I think that Dominicanos Hoy read something into the report which I can't seem to find.

First, nowhere does it say that the DR closed as WORST.
Nor does it, as the Domincanos Hoy article would suggest with their bold title say that the DR is among the worst.

I think the culprit may be paragraph 8 & 9:
Los autores del informe se?alan que muchos pa?ses suramericanos han registrado en los ?ltimos a?os turbulencias pol?ticas y econ?micas, que han afectado negativamente a la calidad de vida de los expatriados que residen all?.

A ello se suman los desastres naturales como los huracanes que han golpeado duramente a Hait?, la Rep?blica Dominicana, Jamaica, Cuba y los Estados Unidos.

Really what is being mentioned there is that many South / Latin American have seen the living quality to expatriates effected negatively because of political turbulence...

to which natural disasters like the hurricanes Haiti, the DR, Jamaica, Cuba and the USA have suffered added (negativity).

The DR, only gets mentioned in that 9th paragraph and together with not only Haiti but also the USA.

Would we, because of that now also make the argument that the US has joined the list of low quality expatriate life countries? I don't think so.

But yes, there is no way we could compare the living quality with Vienna, Zurich or Munich and Vancouver.


... J-D.
 

AlterEgo

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Santo Domingo is #132

I tracked down the rankings - the city of Santo Domingo is ranked 132nd. There are several who ranked higher that I find highly questionable!!

Mercer Quality of Living Survey ? Worldwide Rankings, 2009
Base City: New York, USA (=100)

Rankings ( 2009 / 2008 ) / City / Country / QoL Index (2009 / 2008)

1 / 2 / Vienna / Austria / 108.6 / 107.9
2 / 1 / Zurich / Switzerland / 108 / 108
3 / 2 / Geneva / Switzerland / 107.9 / 107.9
4 / 4 / Vancouver / Canada / 107.4 / 107.6
4 / 5 / Auckland / New Zealand / 107.4 / 107.3
6 / 6 / Dusseldorf / Germany / 107.2 / 107.2
7 / 7 / Munich / Germany / 107 / 107
8 / 7 / Frankfurt / Germany / 106.8 / 107
9 / 9 / Bern / Switzerland / 106.5 / 106.5
10 / 10 / Sydney / Australia / 106.3 / 106.3
11 / 11 / Copenhagen / Denmark / 106.2 / 106.2
12 / 12 / Wellington / New Zealand / 105.9 / 105.8
13 / 13 / Amsterdam / Netherlands / 105.7 / 105.7
14 / 14 / Brussels / Belgium / 105.4 / 105.4
15 / 15 / Toronto / Canada / 105.3 / 105.3
16 / 19 / Ottawa / Canada / 105 / 104.7
16 / 16 / Berlin / Germany / 105 / 105
18 / 17 / Melbourne / Australia / 104.8 / 104.8
19 / 17 / Luxembourg / Luxembourg / 104.6 / 104.8
20 / 20 / Stockholm / Sweden / 104.5 / 104.5
21 / 21 / Perth / Australia / 104.3 / 104.3
22 / 22 / Montreal / Canada / 104.2 / 104.2
23 / 23 / Nurnberg / Germany / 104.1 / 104.1
24 / 24 / Oslo / Norway / 103.7 / 103.7
25 / 25 / Dublin / Ireland / 103.6 / 103.5
26 / 32 / Singapore / Singapore / 103.5 / 102.9
26 / 25 / Calgary / Canada / 103.5 / 103.5
28 / 27 / Hamburg / Germany / 103.4 / 103.4
29 / 28 / Honolulu / United States / 103.1 / 103.1
30 / 29 / San Francisco / United States / 103 / 103
30 / 29 / Helsinki / Finland / 103 / 103
30 / 29 / Adelaide / Australia / 103 / 103
33 / 32 / Paris / France / 102.9 / 102.9
34 / 34 / Brisbane / Australia / 102.4 / 102.4
35 / 35 / Tokyo / Japan / 102.2 / 102.2
35 / 37 / Boston / United States / 102.2 / 101.8
37 / 36 / Lyon / France / 101.9 / 101.9
38 / 38 / Yokohama / Japan / 101.6 / 101.6
38 / 38 / London / United Kingdom / 101.6 / 101.6
40 / 40 / Kobe / Japan / 100.9 / 100.9
41 / 41 / Milan / Italy / 100.8 / 100.8
42 / 48 / Portland / United States / 100.6 / 100.2
42 / 42 / Barcelona / Spain / 100.6 / 100.6
44 / 44 / Washington / United States / 100.3 / 100.3
44 / 44 / Osaka / Japan / 100.3 / 100.3
44 / 44 / Lisbon / Portugal / 100.3 / 100.3
44 / 44 / Chicago / United States / 100.3 / 100.3
48 / 43 / Madrid / Spain / 100.2 / 100.5
49 / 49 / New York City / United States / 100 / 100
50 / 50 / Seattle / United States / 99.8 / 99.8
51 / 51 / Lexington / United States / 99.7 / 99.7
52 / 52 / Pittsburgh / United States / 99.6 / 99.6
53 / 53 / Winston Salem / United States / 99.5 / 99.5
54 / 54 / Nagoya / Japan / 99.4 / 99.4
55 / 55 / Rome / Italy / 98.9 / 98.9
56 / 56 / Glasgow / United Kingdom / 98.6 / 98.6
56 / 56 / Birmingham / United Kingdom / 98.6 / 98.6
58 / 58 / Tsukuba / Japan / 98.2 / 98.2
59 / 59 / Los Angeles / United States / 98.1 / 98.1
59 / 59 / Cleveland / United States / 98.1 / 98.1
61 / 61 / Minneapolis / United States / 97.8 / 97.8
62 / 62 / Houston / United States / 96.3 / 96.5
63 / 63 / Miami / United States / 96.2 / 96.2
64 / 64 / Yokkaichi / Japan / 96.1 / 96.1
65 / 65 / St. Louis / United States / 96 / 96
65 / 65 / Detroit / United States / 96 / 96
67 / 67 / Atlanta / United States / 95.9 / 95.9
68 / 68 / Leipzig / Germany / 95.4 / 95.4
69 / 69 / Omuta / Japan / 94.8 / 94.8
70 / 70 / Hong Kong / Hong Kong / 94.4 / 94.1
71 / 71 / Prague / Czech Republic / 93.9 / 93.7
72 / 72 / San Juan / Puerto Rico / 92.8 / 92.8
73 / 73 / Katsuyama / Japan / 91.3 / 91.3
74 / 74 / Budapest / Hungary / 91.1 / 90.6
75 / 75 / Kuala Lumpur / Malaysia / 90.4 / 90.2
76 / 76 / Athens / Greece / 89.7 / 88.6
77 / 83 / Dubai / United Arab Emirates / 89.3 / 87.1
78 / 82 / Ljubljana / Slovenia / 88.7 / 87.7
79 / 78 / Vilnius / Lithuania / 88.6 / 88.1
79 / 76 / Montevideo / Uruguay / 88.6 / 88.6
81 / 78 / Buenos Aires / Argentina / 88.4 / 88.1
82 / 80 / Port Louis / Mauritius / 87.9 / 87.9
83 / 86 / Seoul / South Korea / 87.2 / 86.1
84 / 87 / Abu Dhabi / United Arab Emirates / 87.1 / 84.8
85 / 85 / Warsaw / Poland / 87 / 86.4
86 / 84 / Taipei / Taiwan / 86.8 / 86.7
87 / 80 / Cape town / South Africa / 86.4 / 87.9
88 / 91 / Bratislava / Slovakia / 85 / 83.9
89 / 88 / Santiago / Chile / 84.8 / 84.4
90 / 89 / Riga / Latvia / 84.5 / 84.2
91 / 93 / Limassol / Cyprus / 84.3 / 83.7
92 / 89 / Tallinn / Estonia / 84.2 / 84.2
93 / 92 / Port Elizabeth / South Africa / 83.8 / 83.8
94 / 95 / Panama city / Panama / 83.2 / 83.2
95 / 96 / Monterrey / Mexico / 82.8 / 82.8
96 / 97 / Victoria / Seychelles / 82.6 / 82.5
97 / 94 / Johannesburg / South Africa / 82.5 / 83.5
98 / 100 / Tunis / Tunisia / 82 / 81.6
98 / 98 / Shanghai / China / 82 / 82
100 / 99 / Papeete / French Polynesia / 81.9 / 81.9
101 / 102 / Kaohsiung / Taiwan / 81 / 80.9
102 / 102 / Noumea / New Caledonia / 80.9 / 80.9
103 / 106 / Zagreb / Croatia / 80 / 78.6
103 / 104 / Tel Aviv / Israel / 80 / 80
105 / 105 / Brasilia / Brazil / 79.2 / 79.2
106 / 101 / Johor Baharu / Malaysia / 79 / 81.4
107 / 107 / San Jose / Costa Rica / 78.1 / 77.7
108 / 108 / Bucharest / Romania / 77.5 / 77.5
109 / 110 / Asuncion / Paraguay / 77.1 / 77.1
110 / 111 / Nassau / Bahamas / 76.6 / 76.6
111 / 122 / Manama / Bahrain / 75.9 / 73.4
112 / 112 / Yeochun (Yosu) / South Korea / 75.8 / 76.2
113 / 117 / Sofia / Bulgaria / 74.9 / 74.5
113 / 116 / Beijing / China / 74.9 / 74.6
115 / 113 / Ulsan / South Korea / 74.6 / 74.9
116 / 120 / Lima / Peru / 74.5 / 74.1
117 / 114 / Rio de Janeiro / Brazil / 74.4 / 74.7
118 / 119 / Sao Paulo / Brazil / 74.2 / 74.2
119 / 121 / Jerusalem / Israel / 74 / 74
120 / 109 / Bangkok / Thailand / 73.8 / 77.2
121 / 114 / Istanbul / Turkey / 73.5 / 74.7
122 / 118 / Quito / Ecuador / 73 / 74.4
122 / 123 / Cairo / Egypt / 73 / 73.3
124 / 124 / Casablanca / Morocco / 72.6 / 72.3
125 / 133 / Kuwait city / Kuwait / 72.5 / 69.2
126 / 125 / Guayaquil / Ecuador / 71.9 / 71.9
127 / 127 / Amman / Jordan / 71.8 / 71.5
128 / 126 / Guangzhou / China / 71.6 / 71.6
129 / 127 / Mexico city / Mexico / 71.5 / 71.5
130 / 129 / Manaus / Brazil / 71.4 / 71.4
131 / 131 / Manila / Philippines / 70.7 / 70.3
132 / 130 / Santo Domingo / Dominican Republic / 69.9 / 71.2
133 / 132 / Rayong / Thailand / 68.5 / 69.5
134 / 138 / Bogota / Colombia / 67.4 / 65
135 / 134 / Blantyre / Malawi / 66.9 / 66.9
136 / 135 / Nanjing / China / 66.8 / 66.8
137 / 143 / Belgrade / Serbia / 65.8 / 64
138 / 136 / Lusaka / Zambia / 65.7 / 65.4
139 / 137 / Kingston / Jamaica / 65.3 / 65.3
140 / 146 / Jakarta / Indonesia / 64.9 / 63.7
141 / 139 / Guatemala City / Guatemala / 64.8 / 64.5
142 / 140 / Bangalore / India / 64.4 / 64.4
143 / 143 / Medellin / Colombia / 64.1 / 64
144 / 140 / La Paz / Bolivia / 63.4 / 64.4
145 / 145 / New Delhi / India / 63 / 63.8
145 / 148 / Dakar / Senegal / 63 / 63
147 / 149 / Shenyang / China / 62.9 / 62.9
148 / 142 / Mumbai / India / 62.5 / 64.1
149 / 150 / Hanoi / Vietnam / 62.4 / 62.4
150 / 147 / Ho Chi Minh City / Vietnam / 62.2 / 63.1
151 / 154 / Skopje / Macedonia / 61.9 / 61.3
152 / 151 / Colombo / Sri Lanka / 61.5 / 62.1
152 / 153 / Chennai (Madras) / India / 61.5 / 61.6
154 / 155 / Accra / Ghana / 60.7 / 60.7
155 / 157 / Libreville / Gabon / 60.5 / 60.5
156 / 152 / Caracas / Venezuela / 60.2 / 62
157 / 158 / Sarajevo / Bosnia-Herzegovina / 60.1 / 60.1
158 / 156 / Santa Cruz / Bolivia / 59.6 / 60.6
159 / 163 / Riyadh / Saudi Arabia / 59.4 / 56.5
160 / 160 / Jeddah / Saudi Arabia / 58.9 / 57.2
161 / 159 / Jilin / China / 57.8 / 57.8
162 / 161 / Kiev / Ukraine / 57.1 / 57
163 / 164 / San Salvador / El Salvador / 56.6 / 56.3
164 / 165 / Tripoli / Libya / 56.1 / 56.1
164 / 162 / St. Petersburg / Russia / 56.1 / 56.6
166 / 167 / Managua / Nicaragua / 55.4 / 55.4
167 / 168 / Vientiane / Laos, People's Dem. Republic of / 55.3 / 55.3
168 / 166 / Moscow / Russia / 54.9 / 55.5
169 / 169 / Cotonou / Benin / 54.2 / 54.2
170 / 169 / Djibouti / Djibouti / 53.7 / 54.2
171 / 172 / Nairobi / Kenya / 53.2 / 53.2
172 / 173 / Damascus / Syria / 53.1 / 53.1
173 / 180 / Tirana / Albania / 52.6 / 51.4
174 / 175 / Islamabad / Pakistan / 52.1 / 52.7
175 / 171 / Beirut / Lebanon / 51.9 / 53.3
176 / 177 / Lahore / Pakistan / 51.8 / 52.4
177 / 178 / San Pedro Sula / Honduras / 51.7 / 51.7
178 / 176 / Tehran / Iran / 51.4 / 52.6
179 / 181 / Almaty / Kazakhstan / 50.6 / 50.3
180 / 178 / Algiers / Algeria / 49.8 / 51.7
181 / 182 / Yaounde / Cameroon / 49.6 / 49.6
182 / 183 / Minsk / Belarus / 49.4 / 49.4
183 / 184 / Maputo / Mozambique / 48.7 / 48.7
183 / 184 / Douala / Cameroon / 48.7 / 48.7
185 / 174 / Harare / Zimbabwe / 48.6 / 52.8
186 / 184 / Karachi / Pakistan / 48.2 / 48.7
187 / 188 / Havana / Cuba / 47.5 / 47.8
188 / 187 / Novosibirsk / Russia / 47.4 / 47.9
188 / 190 / Dar Es Salaam / Tanzania / 47.4 / 47.4
190 / 194 / Abidjan / Ivory Coast / 46.6 / 44.6
191 / 192 / Lome / Togo / 46.2 / 45.1
191 / 191 / Kazan / Russia / 46.2 / 46.7
193 / 189 / Yangon / Myanmar / 45.6 / 47.7
194 / 192 / Baku / Azerbaijan / 45.1 / 45.1
195 / 196 / Luanda / Angola / 44.3 / 43.7
196 / 195 / Bamako / Mali / 43.2 / 43.9
197 / 198 / Addis Ababa / Ethiopia / 43.1 / 41.7
198 / 197 / Tashkent / Uzbekistan / 43 / 43
199 / 198 / Lagos / Nigeria / 41.7 / 41.7
200 / 201 / Niamey / Niger / 41.5 / 40.7
201 / 202 / Ouagadougou / Burkina Faso / 41.1 / 39.8
201 / 200 / Antananarivo / Madagascar / 41.1 / 41.1
203 / 207 / Port Harcourt / Nigeria / 39.8 / 38.2
204 / 205 / Conakry / Guinea Republic / 39.4 / 39.4
205 / 206 / Dhaka / Bangladesh / 38.9 / 38.9
206 / 202 / Port au Prince / Haiti / 38.3 / 39.8
207 / 209 / Kinshasa / Dem. Rep. Of the Congo / 36.3 / 36.3
208 / 204 / Nouakchott / Mauritania / 35.8 / 39.6
209 / 210 / Pointe Noire / Congo / 35.1 / 33
210 / 207 / Sanaa / Yemen Arab Republic / 34.3 / 38.2
211 / 212 / Khartoum / Sudan / 32.2 / 31
212 / 213 / Brazzaville / Congo / 31.6 / 29.5
213 / 211 / Ndjamena / Chad / 31.3 / 32.9
214 / 214 / Bangui / Central African Republic / 29.3 / 29.3
215 / 215 / Baghdad / Iraq / 14.4 / 13.5
 

cobraboy

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Jul 24, 2004
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That study is bogus. Jarabacoa should be no lower than 6th on the list...:cheeky:
 

DominicanBilly

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Mar 9, 2005
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That's a funny article. Imagine living in Zurich on what it takes to live here...:cheeky:

Vienna, Zurich or Munich and Vancouver on what I live on here in the DR. I guess I could live under a bridge and eat dog food or scraps from a dumpster.

The other way to have a good life style in those liberal countries is to throw a brick in to one of their banking institutions and get put in jail. Good food, three meals a day, company (older guys need not worry about being molested), tv, exercise, library, medical and dental coverage.
 

J D Sauser

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Nov 20, 2004
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Yeah well, we can always argue about the one to the left and the one to the right... I think that globally the rating is about OK.
I knew Guayquil (now in the 120's) in the 90's when it was hotter (dangerous) than Dodge City over 100 years ago. Since Jaime Nebot (mayor) took over the city has flourished and life has become more tranquil and livable. While I think that Guayaquil is still hotter than Santo Domingo, I would prefer to live in GYE than SDQ for other reasons, like the city's business opportunities and economy etc, but that's personal perception.

Anyway, I think it's good "AlterEgo" posted the rating, it proves my point... the Domincano Hoy article sadly is yet an other prove of Dominican style superficial and non investigative (call it "ignorant") blah, blah... they don't even read what they post.

... J-D.
 

sweetdbt

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Sep 17, 2004
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I'm sure there are some exceptions, but for the most part the lower numbers on this list seem to be a compilation of the most expensive places in the world. There are also some strange omissions and inclusions. Pittsburgh is ranked, but not Philadelphia? Philly has 6 or 7 times the population, and most certainly a much larger expatriot community.
 

Lambada

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Mar 4, 2004
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In preparing its report, the consultant used criteria such as political stability, crime rates, banking and currency regulations, health status, educational standard, the quality of public services and recreation, housing and the environment.

But did the consultancy actually visit any of the countries they write about?

Bear in mind also the purpose for which these reports are written: 'Mercer?s Quality of Living Reports contain all the key elements you need to calculate hardship allowances for transfers to more than 420 cities worldwide'

Mercer's 2009 Quality of Living survey highlights

viz. to assist multinational companies to calculate the 'hardship allowance' they pay to staff posted overseas. Such staff might or might not be 'volunteers', or volunteering might need inducements in the form of extra allowances like a hardship allowance. Such staff might only live in a country for a couple of years or so. I don't think it has very much to do with our generally accepted understanding of expats being people who voluntarily seek to move & live elsewhere for a longish time. I'm not saying you can't call such people expats, but they are possibly more transient than many expats here in the DR. Maybe Dominicanoshoy didn't fully understand?
 

nikke

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Sep 19, 2005
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Canada's got quite a few cities listed. Should I go back home? I found the winters to uncomfortable for my liking.
 

cobraboy

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Jul 24, 2004
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Santo Domingo or Detroit, where would I rather live???:cheeky: