Abu Dhabi and Dubai, international cities that never sleep, topped the list of best cities in the Middle East to live and work in, according to a recent survey by the jobs portal Bayt.com, and YouGov – global online market research company.
The survey – entitled “Top Cities in the Middle East and North Africa,” noted that the ranking was based on several factors including economic, environmental, standard of living, socio-cultural and entrepreneurship factors.
“Overall, Dubai and Abu Dhabi ranked the best in almost all aspects. As cities, they also scored extremely well on the happiness scale, with more than three-quarters of their residents indicating that they are happy in their city of residence,” said the Bayt.com report.
Socio-cultural factors include those that relate to cultures, cities and societies and the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors of people residing in these areas. In the MENA region, the most important socio-cultural factors are low crime rate (81% said it is very important), effective law enforcement (78% said it is very important), and fair treatment to all nationalities (75% said it is very important). Dubai and Abu Dhabi were rated the best in these areas.
Furthermore, residents of MENA cities highly value environmental factors relating to cleanliness above all, with clean water (84% said it is very important), clean air (74% said it is very important), and clean streets (70% said it is very important) ranking as the most important ranking factors. Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Muscat took the top three spots in terms of environmental factors. In fact, more than nine in 10 respondents said the cleanliness of streets in Dubai and Abu Dhabi was either “good” or “excellent.”
Respondents also claimed that the most important factors are based on safety, healthcare and education. The majority of respondents (84%) said that a feeling of stability and security was a “very important” aspect. This was followed by quality of education (82% said it is very important), availability of healthcare facilities (81% said it is very important), and quality of available healthcare facilities (81% said it is very important). Dubai and Abu Dhabi were once again ranked as the top cities in the region with the highest standard of living.
Anjali Chhabra, Senior Research Manager at YouGov, said: “When conducting the Top Cities survey, not only did we look at the physical infrastructure and economic variables of each city, but we also analyzed the social and cultural factors that play an important role in the quality of life they serve.”
Survey results were based on a sample of 5,114 respondents. Cities assessed include Algiers, Alexandria, Cairo, Amman, Kuwait City, Beirut, Casablanca, Marrakech, Rabat, Muscat, Damascus, Jeddah, Riyadh, Eastern Province, Tunis, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Manama, and Sharjah.
