Birmingham has been named in a list of top cities in the world, reaching 55th place alongside Los Angeles and Glasgow.
It was one of only three British cities to be included in the survey, which ranks cities on factors including personal safety, the environment and access to health, education, transport and other public services.
Dublin has the highest quality of life for cities in the UK and Ireland, coming 24th in the poll of 215 cities across the world.
London was 39th, trailing behind Paris (33rd) but ahead of New York (46th).
Zurich was the world's top rated city ahead of second placed Geneva. Vancouver was third.
Baghdad was the city with the worst quality of life, taking the dubious title ahead of Brazzaville in the Congo and Bangui in the Central African Republic.
Cities in Europe, Canada and Australia dominated the top rankings in the survey by Mercer Human Resource Consulting, which aimed to establish the best and worst cities for expatriates.
Almost half the top 30 cities were in Western Europe.
London was in exactly the same spot as last year and Dublin dropped two places, mainly due to increased traffic congestion.
Cities in Eastern Europe such as Budapest, Ljubljana, Prague, Vilnius, Tallinn and Warsaw climbed the rankings.
There were three Swiss cities - Zurich, Geneva and Bern - and three German cities - Dusseldorf, Frankfurt and Munich - in the top ten.
