In a new survey by Bayt.com titled ‘Top Cities in the Middle East and North Africa’,50% of MENA residents claimed to be happy in their current city of residence, and more than one in five claim to be ‘very happy’. The ranking was based on several factors including economic, environmental, standard of living, socio-cultural, and entrepreneurship factors. The survey determined that the top10 cities in the MENA are: Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Muscat, Eastern Province, Doha, Riyadh, Marrakech, Rabat, Jeddah, and Kuwait City.
Economic Factors
Of the key economic elements addressed in this study, three quarters (75%) of respondents believe that availability of jobs is the most important factor. Affordable housing (72%), followed by reasonably-priced day to day necessities (70%) and career growth (70%) were also of high- importance to respondents. Muscat (60%), Abu Dhabi (56%) and Riyadh (49%) are rated best when it comes to reasonably priced day to day amenities, while Eastern province is the top city in terms of benefits for working parents (56%).
Health insurance and social security systems (78%) are considered the most important labor rights for respondents in the MENA region. These are followed by wage protection (69%), end of service benefits (68%), and termination rights (68%). When it comes to termination rights, Muscat comes first (45%), followed by Dubai (44%) Abu Dhabi (40%).
MENA respondents’ priorities for their city’s standard of living revolve around safety, education, and healthcare. Feeling of stability and security (84%), quality of education (81%), availability of healthcare facilities (81%), and quality of available healthcare facilities (80%) emerge as the most important standard of living factors. Beirut leads in terms of quality of education (68%) while Eastern province and Dubai follow (67% and64%, respectively). When it comes to child friendliness, Dubai takes the top spot followed by Muscat and Abu Dhabi (64%,63% and60% respectively). Abu Dhabi, Eastern province, Dubai and Muscat are the top cities in terms of feeling of stability and security (79%,70%, both Dubai and Muscat at67% respectively).
Socio-cultural Factors
These factors are the forces within cultures, societies, and cities that affect the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors of the individuals who are part of them. In the MENA region, the most important socio-cultural factors are low crime rate (81%) and effective law enforcement (77%). Abu Dhabi takes the top spot in terms of freedom of expression (63%) followed by Tunis (53%), Dubai (51%) and Muscat (41%). When it comes to gender equality, Abu Dhabi and Muscat are the best cities (76% and75% respectively) followed by Dubai (73%).
Respondents felt less passionately about sports, arts, culture and recreation factors, and proportionally more respondents ranked them as “somewhat important”. Availability of natural areas/landscapes (53%) was the most important factor in this category, followed by availability of family-friendly activities (47%), availability of outdoor/sports activities (46%), and availability of relaxation options (46%). In terms of availability of world heritage sites/ preserved old towns, Marrakech emerges best (83%) followed by Muscat (65%). Muscat also takes the top spot in terms of availability of natural areas/ natural landscape with80% giving it a positive rating in this aspect. Dubai and Muscat emerge as top cities in terms of availability of outdoor/ sports activities with positive ratings of69% and57% respectively.
Inhabitants of MENA cities value environmental factors relating to cleanliness above all, with clean water (83%), clean air (74%), and clean streets (69%) ranking as the most important survey factors. Abu Dhabi is rated highest in terms of clean streets and roads with a vast majority stating so (90%); Dubai (86%) and Muscat (84%) follow. In terms of comfortable weather, Marrakech emerges best (65%) followed by Muscat (53%) and Beirut (48%). Muscat is rated the top city when it comes to clean air as stated by77% of its residents; Dubai and Abu Dhabi follow (68% and61%, respectively).
Entrepreneurship Factors
Financial elements were the most important entrepreneurship factors for MENA respondents, with affordability of taxes and fees (60%), ease of starting up a new business (59%), and ease of finding finances to start a business (59%) as the most important of them. In terms of ease of finding finances to start a business, almost half of Dubai respondents (49%) gave their city of residence a positive rating making it the best city in this aspect followed by Abu Dhabi (37%) and Eastern province (30%). Dubai takes the lead in terms of market willingness to accept new ideas and innovations (69%) followed by Abu Dhabi (58%) and Eastern province (43%). However, Muscat takes the lead when it comes to affordability of taxes and fees (if any) followed by Dubai (57% and49% respectively).
Suhail Masri, Vice President of Employer Solutions at Bayt.com, said: “The MENA region is very diverse when it comes to the factors that affect the overall quality of living in each city. Our Bayt.com Top Cities survey ranks the most desirable cities for people to both work and live in. Our responsibility as a leading career site in the region extends to providing job seekers holistic information to make an informed decision if they are, for instance, looking to relocate to any of these cities for work. Simultaneously, when employers know where their city stands, they can do more to contribute to their city’s standard of living by addressing the needs that job seekers are looking for the most. At Bayt.com, we strive to empower people with the tools, information and technologies to build their lifestyle of choice, which is why we always share valuable insights into life in cities that MENA professionals might choose to live in.“
Arleen Gonsalves, Assistant Research Manager, YouGov, said: “this is one of most comprehensive surveys conducted in the MENA, which provides deeper understanding of standards of living across major cities using social and cultural yardstick instead of focusing merely on physical infrastructure. The survey findings give valuable insights to MNCs as well as job seekers who are planning to move to this region.”
Data for the2016 Bayt.com ‘Top Cities in the Middle East and North Africa’ survey was collected online from September23,2016 to October18,2016. Results are based on a sample of1,436 respondents. Cities assessed include Algiers, Alexandria, Cairo, Amman, Kuwait City, Beirut, Casablanca, Marrakech, Rabat, Muscat, Doha, Jeddah, Riyadh, Eastern Province, Tunis, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Manama, and Sharjah.