Vienna in international comparison

Reasons why Vienna is unique:

• Top quality of living
  • Vienna for the third time scored highest worldwide in the 2011 Quality of Living Survey by the international Mercer Consulting Group that covers 221 international cities.
• Vienna is "the smartest city" worldwide
  • Vienna is the highest rated smart city according to the first global ranking of the smartest cities based on previous city rankings in innovation and sustainability by US-climate strategist Boyd Cohen.
• Vienna rated world's most sustainable city
  • Vienna has set international standards in modern waste management for many years. In 2010, the Austrian capital for the first time received the international award for the "World City closest to sustainable Waste Management".
• Top conference destination
  • 181 international conferences are held in Vienna each year, which makes Vienna by far the most popular congress location worldwide. (Source: 2011 statistics of the International Congress and Convention Association, (ICCA)).
• Business hub between east and west
  • More than 300 international corporations (such as Siemens, Hewlett-Packard, Nokia, Beiersdorf or BASF) have chosen the Vienna Region as the headquarters of their Eastern European operations. More than 120 of the international corporations are directly located in Vienna. This number has more than doubled in the past four years.
• Largest economic potential in all of Europe
  • In its "European Cities and Regions of the Future 2012/2013" ranking of early March the renowned fDi Magazine, published by The Financial Times Ltd., nominated Vienna as the highest ranking European city of the future for economic potential. The fDi Magazine annually publishes rankings of the most attractive European cities and regions for foreign direct investment. London has maintained its title as European City of the Future followed by Paris in second place and Vienna in third.
• Top location for international organisations
  • Vienna is the only city in the European Union to host one of the four United Nations headquarters in addition to New York, Geneva and Nairobi. The Vienna International Center was inaugurated over 30 years ago. Vienna is also home to other international organisations such as OPEC or OSCE and many more.
• Vienna is among the world’s top global cities
  • In the current "Global Cities Index 2012", compiled by global management consultants A.T. Kearney, that ranks the world's 66 top global cities Vienna came 13^th even before cities with a vast global potential such as Beijing. The Austrian capital moved up five places in comparison to the 2010 index and is the "rising star of the year" together with Moscow. The "Global Cities Index" analyses cities with regard to their business activity, human capital, information exchange, cultural experience, and political engagement, and gives an impression of the global influence of cities. New York, London, and Paris top the list.
• City of Vienna receives UN-Habitat Dubai Award and EPSA 2011 for ecological procurement
  • In April 2011, the Ökokauf ("Ecobuy") programme for sustainable and ecological public procurement in the Vienna City Administration was rated the most innovative programme by a city, earning Vienna the "Dubai International Award for Best Practices in Improving the Living Environment". ÖkoKauf Wien also received the "European Public Sector Award 2011" out of 274 submitted projects from Europe.
• 50 percent green spaces
  • About 50 percent of Vienna's area is covered by green spaces. Vienna is the only city worldwide with a notable winegrowing area of 700 hectare within city limits.
• Excellent drinking water from the Alps
  • Fresh and clean drinking water from the tap is a matter of course in Vienna. The city's drinking water comes from the Alps and is among the world's best.
• City with the largest network of liaison offices
  • Vienna is the city with the largest number of representative offices abroad worldwide. The Austrian capital runs an excellent lobbying network with representative offices in eleven Central and Eastern European countries, a Vienna House in Brussels, and a representative office in Tokyo.
• Model city for efficient public transport
  • In Vienna the share of public transport in modal split is at 37 percent (EU average: 28 percent). Arthur D. Little's new global study of urban mobility that assesses mobility maturity and performance of 66 cities worldwide has ranked Vienna an excellent 7^th. There are many good reasons why Vienna is called the "city of short distances". With only 27 minutes the Viennese have the shortest travel time to work in international comparison, and Vienna also aims to increase the share of public transport in modal split to 40 percent by 2020.
• Largest municipal housing authority in Europe
  • Vienna is renowned for its municipal housing projects. The City of Vienna is Europe's largest property manager with more than 220,000 municipal flats that have been built since the 1920s.
• Europe's largest passive housing estate to be built in Vienna
  • Energy efficiency and sustainable building construction are a prime concern in Vienna. Vienna has traditionally assumed a leading role in the construction of passive homes: currently, the city has twelve completed projects comprising about 1,150 homes of passive house standard. Now Europe's largest passive housing estate is to be built near the centre of Vienna.
• Cultural centre and city of waltz
  • Vienna has about 70,000 theatre and concert seats. In addition to the regular seasonal programmes in Vienna's concert halls there are approximately 2,500 large events every year, i.e. about seven large events per day. Vienna is also renowned for its unique ball tradition. About 450 balls with about 300,000 guests take place in Vienna each year. By the way, the renowned and colourful Life Ball is Europe's largest aids charity event.
• 5^th most popular student city worldwide
  • The globally operating company Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) has ranked Vienna 5^th in its current ranking of best student cities in the world, which makes Vienna the top ranking student city in all German-speaking countries. The main reasons for the top ranking are above all the excellent quality of living, affordability and the favourable student mix. The top ten student cities in the world are: Paris (1), London (2), Boston(3), Melbourne (4), Vienna (5), Sydney (6), Zurich (7), Berlin (8), Dublin (9), and Montreal (10).