Global rankings: where Switzerland gets good marks – and where it could do better

Whether it is quality of life, universities or globalisation, Switzerland regularly excels in international rankings. SWI swissinfo.ch digs into recent global surveys to analyse the results. Switzerland has one of the world’s most liveable cities – Zurich – according to a recent study in Nature Cities. In the country’s largest city (population 430,000), 99.2% of residents live within a 15-minute walk of essential services such as healthcare and education. The “15-minute city” is a concept used by scientists and urban planners. Sprawling North American cities with a high dependency on cars, such as Dallas, Atlanta and Detroit, ranked poorly. “Zurich feels extraordinarily walkable to me, coming from the US,” Luke Harris, a landscape architect from Portland, Oregon, told The Guardian newspaper. “Most of the things you need are within walking distance – and if they’re not, it’s easy to take public transport.” Zurich regularly features in global rankings and is a popular destination for ...