Europe's cities once more dominate the world's top 10 for quality of living. Vienna is the city rated with the best quality of living worldwide, moving up one place in the rankings following improvements in Austria's political and social environment.
 
Many Eastern European cities have seen an increase in quality of living. A number of countries which joined the European Union back in 2004 have experienced consistent improvement with increased stability, rising living standards and greater availability of international consumer goods. Ljubljana in Slovenia, for example, moves up four places to reach 78 while Bratislava moves up three places to 88. Zagreb moves three places to 103.
 
In the city infrastructure index, German cities fair particularly well: "German city infrastructure is amongst the best in the world, in part due to its first class airport facilities and connections to other international destinations" said Mr Parakatil.
 
London's ranking in the infrastructure index reflects the high level of public services offered, with its extensive public transport network and wide variety of telecommunication services.
 
The Caucasus region of Europe experienced political instability and civil unrest in 2008. The region saw tensions escalate to violent conflict between Russia and Georgia in Abkhazia and South Ossetia. As a result relationships among these countries including the European Union and the US deteriorated considerably.

The quality of living in some of the Eastern European countries has been continuously improving. Cities such as Prague (Czech Republic), Tallinn (Estonia), Riga (Latvia), Vilnius (Lithuania), Bratislava (Slovakia), Ljubljana (Slovenia) and Warsaw (Poland) have witnessed positive improvements in living standards.
 
Overall, the quality of living standard in most European countries remains far above the world’s average.