Abu Dhabi has topped the “Best Cities of the Middle East and North Africa 2010” survey conducted by leading job site Bayt.com in conjunction with research specialists YouGov Siraj.

The report surveyed the top cities in the Mena according to economic factors, labour rights, environmental factors, everyday life factors and socio-cultural factors.

Overall, taking all factors into account, the 10 best cities were ranked in the following descending order: Abu Dhabi, Muscat, Dubai, Manama, Tunis, Sharjah, Doha, Kuwait City, Marrakech and Amman.

The economic factors section consisted of five key elements that could be related to a given individual’s life in a city. including availability of jobs, reasonably priced day to day amenities, availability of affordable housing, competitive salaries and benefits for working parents.

The cities that scored “extremely” well in economic factors were ranked in the following order starting from the highest to the lowest; Manama, Doha, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Riyadh, Sharjah, Kuwait City, Tunis and Jeddah.

“The Top Cities in the Middle East study revealed some very interesting insights into the Middle East with some cities like Manama and Doha recurring at the top,” said Amer Zureikat, VP Sales, Bayt.com.

The labour rights section considered wage protection system, end of service benefits, termination rights, vacation allowances and parenthood allowances. The cities were ranked in the following order starting from the highest to the lowest: Abu Dhabi, Manama, Muscat, Dubai, Tunis, Doha, Sharjah, Kuwait City, Rabat and Aleppo.

The environmental factors surveyed consisted of clean water, clean air, clean streets and roads and comfortable weather. The cities were ranked in the following order starting from the highest to the lowest: Muscat, Abu Dhabi, Marrakech, Dubai, Tunis, Manama, Rabat, Amman, Aleppo and Sharjah.

The everyday life elements took into account 11 diverse aspects including the availability of health care facilities such as hospitals and qualified doctors, quality of available health care facilities, water/electricity/sewage systems, quality of available schools, availability of schools, quality of colleges and universities, availability of colleges and universities, accessible public transportation system, quality of accessible public transportation, availability of parks and community gardens and availability of wide range of entertainment.

The cities were ranked in the following order: Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Tunis, Sharjah, Muscat, Manama, Kuwait City, Amman, Beirut and Marrakech.

“It is interesting to notice that three cities from the UAE (Sharjah, Dubai and Abu Dhabi) come up quite often.  This is a reflection of the UAE’s diverse emirates each with advanced development in different sectors. However, there is one area that is strong throughout the UAE and that is the country’s health care facilities. This is bound to play a big role in the cities’ attractiveness levels as participating UAE respondents considered health care quality a very important factor in cities,” said Sundip Chahal, chief operating officer, YouGov Siraj.

The socio-cultural factors surveyed low crime rates, effective law enforcement, stability of political environment, the fair treatment of all nationalities, freedom of expression and the equal treatment of both genders. The cities were ranked in the following order: Abu Dhabi, Muscat, Sharjah, Tunis, Dubai, Damascus, Manama, Doha, Amman and Aleppo.-TradeArabia News Service