Quality of life is obviously a question of perspective. The British ECONOMIST publishes an annual ranking from the perspective of expats and business travellers.
For years, first place in this global ranking has been taken by a city that is not located in Germany, but where German is spoken: Vienna or Zurich. In 2023 it was Vienna again.
The most popular German cities in this ranking are Berlin, Frankfurt, Munich, Hamburg and Stuttgart in positions between 17 and 25.
For comparison: New York is ranked 46th and London, the home of the ECONOMIST, 46th.
A new study by the European Union comes to a completely different conclusion. For this study, residents of more than 80 major European cities were asked how satisfied they are with life in their city.
First place is no great surprise: Zurich. What is surprising are the two German cities that made it into the top 10. There is neither Munich nor Berlin, but two East German cities: Leipzig (5th) and Rostock (8th). Have you ever heard the name Rostock? Rostock is a relatively small city on the German Baltic Sea coast with about 200,000 inhabitants. But they obviously feel very comfortable there.
These two cities not only leave their German rivals behind, but also London, Paris and Vienna, for example.
Our little Meersburg is anything but a big city. But it is certainly very popular with both its inhabitants and its visitors. Rostock isfar away from Meersburg, but Zurich can be reached in about an hour from Meersburg.
