VIENNA • Vienna, Austria's grand capital on the Danube river, has topped consulting firm Mercer's list of cities offering the highest quality of life for the eighth year in a row, while Baghdad is again considered the worst place to live.

The survey of 231 cities helps companies and organizations determine compensation and hardship allowances for international staff. It uses dozens of criteria such as political stability, health care, education, crime, recreation and transport.

Global centers London, Paris, Tokyo and New York City did not even make the top 30, lagging behind most big German, Scandinavian, Canadian, New Zealand and Australian cities.

Singapore was the highest ranked Asian city, at 25 while 29th-placed San Francisco was the United States' highest entry.

Fifteen other U.S. cities are on the list, all ranked in the top half of the list: Boston, 35; Honolulu, 36; New York, 44; Seattle, 45; Chicago, 47; Washington, D.C., 49; Pittsburgh, 56; Los Angeles, 58; Minneapolis, 62; Dallas, 64; Atlanta, 65; Houston, 67; Miami, 68; St. Louis, 70; and Detroit, 71.

Top of the list in Africa was South Africa's Durban at 87.